Digimon Adventure Reborn
by TyKamiya
Summary: It has been over a year since the events of D2, and the future for both worlds looks bright. Too bright. A darkened crest, a mysterious text, and the instincts of a leader have Tai Kamiya skeptical on what to do. He knows that both worlds are plunging into a sea of light that conceal a greater darkness, and it's up to him to reunite the Digidestined to save both worlds once again.
1. Behind Closed Doors

Hey everyone! My name is Ty (Yes, just like Tai!) and I'm 16 years old. This is my first fanfic, but I have had a lot of writing experience in the past, so I hope that all of you will enjoy my story here! Many of you may be surprised a 16 year old remembers season 1, but believe it or not, I do, but vaguely. My love for digimon really came alive again when I watched the movie last year since I owned the movie on VHS. At this point I hadn't watched the movie or anything "Digimon" for about maybe 3 or more years, but for some reason something clicked when I watched it this time. I began watching it obsessively, and eventually found the show on Youtube, and it brought back so many memories :'( - the nostalgia I had for it was ridiculous, and I fell in love with all the characters again. The show not only was great that way, but it really helped me through a very hard time in my life. And I could go into all of the stuff with what I went through, how Tai became like an alter-ego for me, or what the show did for me, but you guys aren't here to listen to my rant!

Just a little background info about the story and this chapter: this is taking place after season 2 and after the second digimon movie where they fight Armagheddamon so the older kids are all 17 (with the exception of Joe who's older and Izzy who's younger.) There are gonna be some mature themes as well as romance but nothing that should throw off the rating; I do want this to be darker themed though. Also, when Tai's crest starts changing colors (you'll see what I mean in a minute) refer to the cover photo of this story to see what it would look like, or what it should look like.

Please rate and review, I beg of you guys to do that to show that I'm not just writing this for nothing; I will try to have the next chapter up somewhere in mid-July? I'll be able to write quicker over summer vacation and please PM me if you have any questions. This Chapter was a little hard to write, but I did the best I could at editing things and making them as clear as possible. Some things may be hard to understand, and if they are, like I said before ask me and I'll try to make it clear. But anyway, sorry for this huge intro, here is the 1st chapter of the new season of Digimon Adventure!

... ... ... ... ...

Chapter 1:

Tai opened his dark chocolate eyes. He was facing straight up, staring at his ocean blue ceiling. What a strange dream he had had.

He groaned quietly to himself as he tried to doze off again... That was until he realized what day it was; Monday. He looked at the clock resting beside his bed. It read 6:45am... All of a sudden his pupils dilated into golf balls and his bloodshot eyes sprung open. His bus would come in 5 minutes! He leapt out of bed and tumbled over the railing of the top bunk, crashing right onto the hard wooden floor. He heard his neighbors downstairs start howling with rage at the noise he had made.

Although Kari had her own room now, there was something nostalgic about remaining on the upper bunk in the beds. Now that he thought of it, there was a lot that he did that reminded him of his past. Deep in his heart Tai longed for the past, which had treated him so well. But it WAS his past, a flickering ember that died in the growing light. Of course the era of peace and happiness the world was in was great and all, but it seemed that his glory days were finished. He not only saved the digital world once, but also had a major role in saving it the second time around. In addition, he _was_ the undivided leader of the Digidestined's international team. But all of these titles were just that, just titles that he clung to as his life passed him by. No title could bring back the adventures he embarked on; the friendships he had made... It just seemed that things had changed.

There was so little darkness in the world now, and he knew he should be happy if not proud that it was in part his doing. But he was angrier than ever and didn't know why. He hadn't really spoken to anyone in weeks, and he spent his afternoons staring at his ceiling. All he could see was this light everywhere; it was driving him crazy. But the light seemed almost overwhelming, as if it were concealing something. He had learned a lot as a digidestined, and so he no longer believed in coincidence or chance. As leader of his team he had to trust his instincts, he would be the first to sense if something was wrong.

'What was that thing Gennai told me long ago?' He thought to himself, 'Something about ba-'

But suddenly the vague memory escaped his thoughts... He slammed his fist against the wall. "Why can't I remember?! This isn't like me at all!"

"Maybe it's just not my day or something," he said out loud, "I've never been this unsure of anything... Look at you, Tai, you're falling apart... Wait... Why am I talking to myself?!"

He groaned as he stumbled into his bathroom and looked in the mirror. On any normal day he would look at his reflection and be confident in his appearance. He was very fortunate for his looks, and he certainly wasn't one to shy away from acknowledging it. But today he just leaned over the sink and slowly ran his fingers through his soft, brown hair. He looked up and gazed somberly into his own reflection, disgusted by the emptiness in his expression. But in his trance he failed to hear the school bus honking outside the apartment building. Chaos reigned in the Kamiya household when Mrs. Kamiya realized her son had missed the bus. Screams and furious shouts rang through the air, but the echoes faded as they reached Tai, who remained in his own world.

He sighed with discontent. He finally reached into his shirt and held the Crest of Courage in his hands. Unlike most of the others, he had always kept his crest with him; it was a part of him, his identity. It represented all that was lost in his past, and all of his hopes for the future. As he grasped it, he noticed something strange occurring. The golden sun idol in its center began to fade into black before his eyes. The light that it emulated was drained into a flood of shadows before his very eyes. The crest stopped its transformation as the sun symbol bled a midnight ebony shade, surrounded by a blue abyss, like an ocean in twilight. He trembled furiously as he saw the startling change. But as soon as he blinked the crest returned to its original state. He blinked again, expecting it to change once more.

Suddenly he got a sinking feeling in his gut. That didn't just happen out of the blue. A warning had been given, and it was up to him to act upon it. 'But what did it all mean?!' He thought to himself, 'It wasn't clear at all,' All he knew was that a darkness was coming, and he may be the only one prepared.

...

Mrs. Kamiya grumbled and cursed under her breath while they drove to the school. He gazed out the foggy car window; the gloomy surroundings only increased his internal suffering. Everything was tinted gray and soaked in humidity. The early spring morning reflected his own image of the world, filled with depression and longing. Eventually, they pulled into the Odaiba High School drop off area. To his surprise, Tai made it to school on time.

"Tai, hurry up I'm gonna be late to work," Mrs. Kamiya snapped. When he didn't move she banged her head down onto the steering wheel. She sighed softly and let go of her frustration. She could see that more fighting would do neither of them any good. "Look, Tai. I'm sorry about the morning. Just have a nice day, okay sweetie?"

"Um, yeah..sure." He gathered his things rather sluggishly and shuffled out of the white SUV. Little did he know that it would be the last time he would see his mom for a long time. He turned his shoulder to watch her drive into the distance, vanishing into the blanket of fog, leaving him alone, just like everyone else.

He strolled into his first period class right after the bell rang, not caring the least about his lateness. Tai shrunk down into his chair and lay his head down upon his arms.

He felt like Matt today, so dismal and Matt was his best friend, personality wise they were polar opposites. Tai was more like a cool day at the beach while Matt's persona reflected that of a barren wasteland. It seemed the only common trait they shared was that of being able to turn as cold as ice on people. Tai frowned at himself for a moment. He was taking his own negative attitude and reflecting that onto everyone else. Matt really wasn't at all how he was making him out to be. Usually Matt was very funny, and a great person to hang out with. Though his seriousness was often seen as being a bad quality, it was often his most favorable were countless times when Matt's level-headedness had been just what he had needed in a situation. It just seemed that people got the wrong idea about him.

"Good morning Mr. Kamiya"

Tai suddenly jerked backwards and out from beneath his arms, startled by his teacher's presence.

"Wha-Oh hey Mr. O'day"

"...May I see your homework..?"

Tai didn't realize that the entire class had their homework out and ready, and that now everyone in the room was dead silent... Staring at him. When he spoke it sounded so abnormally loud to his surroundings that it was like he was nearly screaming.

"Sure, umm gimme one sec." His heart was beating fast now, not from the danger he was so accustomed to but from pure embarrassment; it then hit him that in the distress of his emotional meltdown earlier he left everything but his backpack and his lunch at home.

"I uhhh don't have it" Tai stammered. He forced out a weak apologetic smile to make it seem that he was sincerely upset.

"You've surpassed your missed homework limit for the semester Kamiya. That's detention for this entire week and a makeup project which I doubt you'll do anyway considering you can't even remember to do the basic homework."

Tai was taken back a little at his teacher's rapid change in demeanor. Mr. O'day was, even on his worse days, a relatively very nice teacher so Tai was surprised by his nearly cruel gesture. A few kids in the far end of the room snickered as Tai tried to hide himself from the room.

It seemed that this pattern continued for the rest of the day. Class after class he received a detention here, a lecture there. His day certainly did not seem to be getting any better. Finally, after a grueling first half of the day it was time for lunch. While usually Tai would head to the lunchroom with a bunch of friends, today he wasn't in the mood to really be talking to anyone.

He thought to himself, 'The last thing I need right now is-'

"Oh no."

"There it is."

"Quick turn around you idiot!"

There it was in front of his face... Matt and Sora...together... making out...

"Huh?" Sora spotted Tai and pushed Matt off of her lips as he resisted her efforts, paying no attention to his surroundings. Sensing her reluctance, he backed off, confused at her behavior until he looked behind him, seeing what was upsetting her. Startled, he pushed himself quickly off of her as he tried to keep his cool. He swept his golden hair to the side as he faced forward, yet completely avoiding eye contact.

"O-Oh hey Tai..." Matt said as he looked down at his shoes with his hands now back on his own head. He cracked an awkward smile.

"Shit..." He thought to himself. His eyes darted to his all of his surroundings, trying to find anything to break the awkwardness. He knew how heartbreaking this must have been for Tai. Tai had confided in him a few years ago how he had fallen in love with Sora. Only a few days after Tai told him this Matt and Sora became official. Well... In everyone's minds anyway. And the part that really killed him was that Tai wouldn't express any anger towards him, in fact he was nicer than he ever had been before. Matt almost wanted Tai to blow up at him like his old self so they could fight this out; at least then it wouldn't be such a long suffering that was tearing them apart. He wanted to confront Tai about it, but the words would always escape him.

Tai had acted so strange lately, he rarely got the chance to speak to him regardless. Despite all the nice things Tai had done for him and Sora, he could tell that his heart wasn't there. Tai bought Matt a congratulations gift, sent Sora flowers, threw them an anniversary party even. If anyone else did this, Matt would be really freaked out, but Tai was known for being a bit over the top at times. He acted as if nothing was wrong, and Matt figured he must've gotten over his crush until he discovered what was really going on behind closed doors.

...

Tai didn't know he was listening, but he heard it the night of the party Tai threw for him and Sora. Tai left to "Go to the bathroom" conveniently as Izzy had also stepped outside. After they were gone for a good 15 minutes Matt left to see what was going on. As he walked through the dark hallways of the Kamiya household he entered Tai's room quietly because he heard voices emanating from the balcony. He heard Izzy speak first;

"Tai you have to get a hold of yourself! I know things haven't worked out the way we planned but there's nothing we can do about it now!"

Tai responded gravely and fought back expressing any emotion; he refused to appear weak or broken by whatever had happened.

"I know..." he replied, withdrawing himself from Izzy's concerned gaze.

"Then why are you so upset over it! Tai I've never known you to be a really emotional person so this is ridiculous!"

Izzy sounded completely exasperated. Sweat ran down his face as he panicked to think of someway to help his friend, who seemed to be more than devastated. Absolutely nothing seemed logical anymore.

Tai collected himself and wiped the tears from his bloodshot eyes. "It's because I can't even face them anymore. You don't understand how long I've liked her."

"You've been facing them this entire time! And you're the one who's been the most supportive of those two together, the rest of the group took it as a real surprise!"

"No Izzy. I'm trying to act like nothing's the matter but really everything is. I'm hiding behind a mask and I can't even tell my best friend because I don't want him to think I'm trying to steal his dumb girlfriend."

"We'll isn't that exactly what you're trying to do..?"

"Fuck you"

Izzy sighed, he was getting tired of playing these games.

"Well, Tai I don't know why you told me! I'm not exactly the one to ask about things concerning relationships; you should know me by now, I've always preferred machines over people anyway!"

Tai gave him an arrogant look.

"Well I needed help from someone and I put my trust in you! Thanks for not giving a damn!"

Izzy gulped and tried to rephrase his words. Tai really made him feel like he was being a total douche.

"Look, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean it that way. I just want what's best for you and right now and I don't know what to tell you. But what you have to realize is that you missed your chance a long time ago and _you _have todeal with the consequences. I hate to be upfront but you need to man up to your own actions."

Izzy cringed after that last line. He instantly regretted them when Tai shot him a look in the face that most didn't live to see twice. Traumatic memories erupted in his head as he recalled getting his face beaten in while he and Tai explored the sewers of the Dark Master's Industrial City. Izzy's tone of voice flew up high as he backed up slowly to the edge of the balcony and stuttered hysterically to try to fix his words. He didn't feel like getting thrown down 10 stories to his death.

"I- I Mean-!- Uhh! Heh - Heh What I MEANT To Say Is...!"

Suddenly Tai's rage washed away from his pulsing face. He gazed back at the ground and thought of the words he said to himself what seemed like forever ago.

"A man must face himself before he can face his enemies~" He smiled gently to himself as his memory assured him that Izzy's words were true.

"You're right Izzy. I need to face myself before I can even think about Sora at all. Thanks for your help, really, it did more than you know."

Still in hysterics and catching his breath, Izzy waved his hands frantically in the direction of the door and said, "I -I really think we should head back to the others don't you?! They'll start looking for us an-and we can't let them see you in this state, right?!" Izzy didn't want to take the chance of getting Tai angry again.

Calmly, Tai replied, "Yeah, let's go. It'd be a disaster if anyone heard us."

Matt's ears were set ablaze after hearing all of that. He thought that Tai had gotten over his "little crush" but it turns out that it had only intensified over time. He honestly didn't suspect it at all at the time considering how supportive Tai had been to them. Actually, he should have realized something was wrong then... Tai, acting supportive? But that was just the problem; he was "Acting." He had been living a lie this entire time! Matt wasn't sure whether he wanted to wring his neck or give him a hug. 'Okay maybe not a hug,' he thought. He had an appearance to keep up after all.

But Tai was absolutely devastated over it and there was nothing he could do without revealing that he had heard anything that night. Of course he had to watch Tai more closely from now on because he was certainly a huge threat. Not only was Tai the closest of their group to Sora, but it wasn't like he had girl problems. He was very charming and had an extremely flirtatious and likable personality. Actually it got on Matt's nerves how sociable Tai was at times. The kid really needed to slow down, and Matt knew could take Sora away in no time, he was sure of it. And then there was his looks; ever since he had advanced his soccer training he became frighteningly good looking. Tai's body was sculpted much better than his own, and after Tai really matured his face became very desirable as well. Matt gulped. 'It looks like the rivalry is beginning again,'he thought. He had hoped they were done with the childish rivalry they had had when they were younger, especially in the Digital World. He knew that it wasn't the last he'd hear of this, and that troubled him.

Suddenly, he realized that they were getting up that moment and coming his way! His instincts took control over his body and he grasped the nearest object firmly in his hand. He only had one shot at this. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he focused in on his target. Then from the shadows he threw it at Izzy who was opening the balcony door. Izzy was caught completely off guard and gave out a sharp yelp as he tumbled backwards into Tai who collapsed just as well.

They groaned in pain as they laid motionless on top of each other. Matt couldn't help but laugh to himself as he snuck out of the room back to where everyone else was. Naturally, when Tai returned he acted like his normal self, the life of the party. And although no one else noticed it, he still had water in his eyes, and now Matt could really see how sluggish and depressed he looked, though it couldn't be seen from the outside. Whenever others looked away his face dropped into one of despair.

Every smile was a lie.

...

Matt returned to Earth after having such a long flashback. He watched as Tai, in utter shock, was frozen in the moment. "H-hi.." Tai said passively as he concealed his face and slowly backed out around the corner he came from.

"What's up with him?" Sora asked as she leaned back onto Matt's lips again. Matt firmly placed his hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

"Matt, is something the matter?" she said, bewildered.

"Umm, no. No not at all. I just remembered I had something to do." He intentionally avoided any eye contact with her and stared solemnly off in the other direction. Matt walked away with his hands in his pockets and didn't look back. "I'll see you later Sora."

"Wait, Matt I L-" she began, but fell short. He was already turning the hallway corner, leaving her in the dark. A cold shiver ran through her body, as cold as the feeling he gave off when he walked away. Sora had her own doubts about their relationship; Matt could never express what he truly felt and it bothered her. They became decent friends in their first adventure in the digital world, but she knew deep down where her true feelings were. She doubted him, and _he_ knew that. She really didn't even understand how they had started dating in the first place.

"...He never even asked me out..."

The realization of this caused her to doubt even more. She could barely recall his smile, let alone his laugh. He had gotten even darker over the past few years. It seemed that everyone had. They barely even knew each other. "No, that's not right," she contemplated, "We're complete strangers!" Sora walked alone through the empty hallways contemplating. If it wasn't for the common string that tied them all together, the life-changing event that occurred five years ago, they wouldn't have even been friends, let alone boyfriend and girlfriend! They had nearly nothing in common, and their relationship was failing. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed this sooner. 'God, I'm so stupid!' she thought, 'Maybe that's why everyone was so shocked when we told them. Though Tai was surprisingly the only one who seemed okay with it.' She stopped for a second... There was something "Off" about Tai's reaction to what happened, but she couldn't place her finger on it. However, her train of thought was derailed as she was about to catch onto what it was. She ignored it and returned to her earlier focus. 'He's been so sweet and thoughtful lately, I wonder what was the matter earlier when he saw Matt and I?'

She promptly decided to go find him, he needed to be cheered up. And as Tai's _best _friend, it was her job to do it. She walked down the hallway in Tai's direction, unsure of what she would say to him when she caught up. But Sora knew one thing; she needed to find out what was the matter, it could reveal to her what was going on behind closed doors.

...

"Damn it," Tai thought, "Damn it, damn it, damn it. Stupid Matt and Sora." Rage surged through his body as he stepped outside the school. "DAMN IT!" He slammed his fist into the exterior wall and not to his surprise it trembled beneath his fist. The pure energy that surged through his hand further enraged him as the wall shook under to his power.

"...Tai?"

"WHAT?!"Tai roared as he spun around, his face blistering with fury.

Sora shivered helplessly in front of him, beside herself with fear. Her eyes began to tear and she stuttered, "I-I-I c-came t-t-to~" but couldn't finish the sentence.

As soon as Tai realized Sora was there his expression turned from anger to shock.

"Sora! Please don't cry I'm _SO_ sorry!"

She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath.

"It's alright Tai, calm down; I'll be fine." She took a deep breath and looked directly into the face of her lifelong friend. She looked into his eyes and still saw the image of the innocent little boy she always knew. It was hard to see him truly growing up, the memories of their past were too painfully beautiful to think about. She missed how things used to be.

"I came here to check up on you, and it seems I came at the right time!"

"Tai hid his face from her when she looked into his eyes and put his hands in his pockets. He couldn't look her back in the face for he knew that just his expression around her would give away too much; it was like she could see right through him, and he didn't want anyone tapping into his emotions.

"Yeah, well I- it wasn't like-"

"What has been up with you today?!" she interrupted, "First you freaked out when you saw Matt and I earlier, and now you're screaming outside and beating up walls?!" She rested a hand on his turned shoulder as he began to walk away. Instantly, he froze in his tracks and sparks flew through his body like fireworks. Her touch soothed him, appeasing all his tensions, letting them drift away into nothingness.

"Tai... I'm worried about you," she said uneasily. "I swear to God you're starting to lose it." She laughed a bit out loud at the silly thought that Tai was actually losing his mind. Little did she know how accurate she was.

Her smile was contagious and he couldn't help but laugh along with her. Just her presence was always enough to calm him down.

"I'm sorry Sora, today just hasn't been my day. But I promise I'll be fine you don't have to worry about me."

She looked at him, obviously unconvinced.

"Really!"

She nodded and suddenly her eyes lit up, "I have a great idea Tai! How about you let me treat you to some ice cream after school. Ice cream always makes everything better."

"I would Sora, but there's one little problem."

"What's that?"

"Well, I kind've got scheduled for like 3 detentions later so... yeah..."

Sora shot him a look expectantly. Obviously, this was no surprise to her. With a hint of sarcasm she replied, "Wow, 3 detentions in one day, that really is a problem..." She raised an eyebrow at him and the slightest hint of a smile appeared on her face.

He understood what she was implying and went along with it.

"I could always just, you know, skip 'em..." He smiled slyly back at her.

Sora broke into a light laugh, "Now that's my Tai. I'll meet you at the soccer fields after school okay?"

"Alright... I'll be waiting."

Sora stopped dead in her tracks...

'What..the hell ..did he just say...?'

(Author's note*** - to understand why what Tai said is so significant you have to have seen season 2 episode 38- the Christmas episode.)

Tai noticed her strange behavior after what he said. He _knew exactly_ why she had stopped but decided to act clueless rather than admit that he intentionally played her emotions.

"Sora, is something wrong..?" he asked rhetorically.

"NOPE NOTHING'S WRONG AHAHAHA!"

She replied erratically and grabbed her hair fiercely with one hand like she was losing her mind. She kept laughing at nothing as she slowly walked backwards around the corner and into the building. She knew that line all too well. Flashes of her past swarmed her mind, engulfing her conscious in anxiety and stress. Sora had the feeling earlier that talking to Tai might reveal something, and although not everything was clear, she had a lead on what was going on. She knew it was time to further her investigations.

"Well that was...strange," Tai said to himself, even though he knew exactly why she freaked out on him. 'Maybe it wasn't right to have said that to her,' he thought, 'But she reacted to it! She definitely did! That means that she still remembers what happened last year!' Tai cringed as he remembered what had happened the last time he said that, the time of his rejection. He knew that she would only remember his exact words of she did have some kind of feelings for him after all... Or at least he thought so...

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he felt a soft vibrating in his pocket. He had a bad feeling of what it was but he reached in for his cell phone anyway. It was from Mimi.. "Unsurprisingly" he thought to himself as he slightly rolled his eyes and read the message. Now normally Mimi was notorious for sending terribly long messages and she would certainly expect long ones back. This made it often very annoying to have conversations with her. He loved his Meems, but she almost always came on too strong; even for him! Though occasionally she was just what he needed and the two of them were a dangerously exciting duo. Tai laughed at the thought of him and Mimi hanging out alone with Izzy or Joe, who were too uptight to have any real fun. Yet all these thoughts couldn't mask the nauseating feeling he had in his gut. Mimi sent him a two word text message; "Be Ready..." This day could not get any stranger. He decided to text her back; "Ready for what?! What's going on?!" Since he was still outside he decided to run to the middle school which was only a few blocks away. This wasn't just an instinct or a feeling anymore. Tai was certain that bad things were gonna happen, and it was his responsibility to rally his team. He felt a disturbance in himself as he knew there was also a great one in the digital world. His crest gently began to glow under his shirt... It was time to go back.

Tai sprinted through the parking lot and into the middle school which was located a block away from the high school. He bursted through the main doors and almost trampled the greeter at her desk. She jumped backwards and yelped in surprise;

"W-Who are you!? Wh-What do you want!?"

Panting, he exclaimed, "I need to know where Kari Kamiya is- RIGHT NOW! It's an absolute emergency I'm her brother!"

"I don't care who you are I'm calling security right now, you don't just run into a school and demand crap from me! You can explain your story to them, for all I know you could be trying to kill her!"

Tai felt his blood boil inside of him as he seethed hatred through every pore. 'There is no way in hell this _BITCH _is gonna stop me'

"Lady, I need to find her now, this is an emergency, she's in serious danger!"

The greeter gave Tai a condescending glare, and waved her finger in the air as she snapped back at him.

"Hun, right now YOU'RE the only danger to anyone in this 're gonna stay right where you are so security can get you the hell out of my school!"

Upon saying this Tai walked up to the locked security door and stared right directly into it, gradually centering his focus.

The greeter pushed her chair backwards furiously and screamed at him while leaning over her desk, sending office supplies crashing onto the floor as she wreaked havoc on her belongings.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Ignoring her tantrum, he leaned backwards howling and with one kick knocked it right off its hinges.

"I don't have time for your shit I'll find her myself!"

Tai ran through the halls frantically as the greeters' piercing shrieks rang out behind him, wailing for the guards to arrive. He began searching for the seventh grade section of the middle school. The hallways were completely empty in the area he was in, and he could only hear his Jordan's hitting the floor and the hysteria in his breathing. Suddenly an overpowering alarm blasted through the air, breaking the silence. His ears screamed for it to stop as he could feel the blood curdling through the veins in his temples. It was the same sound as the warning for a nuclear air raid, sending the entire school into a panic. Doors and walls jumped up and down violently and lockers would suddenly swing open, sending materials crashing upon the solid floor. It became the scene of a disaster as Tai dodged falling books and tiles from the ceiling that gave way to the magnitude of the alarm shockwaves. Tai screamed with rage as his shoulder was smashed by a pipe that swung out from the ceiling. He grabbed the pipe and threw it through a glass barrier that blocked off the staircase leading to the upperclassmen wing. He smeared the blood from his shoulder over his face which only kicked up his adrenaline even more . He jumped feet first through the shattering glass and landed untouched at the foot of the steps. Sweat and blood ran down his body and into his shirt, not from the physical toll he was taking but the stress that was poisoning his thoughts. He was clueless to what they were facing, and if there was really an enemy at all. He could be losing it completely as Sora had mentioned earlier, but he had never been so sure of something. His eyebrows curled with determination and he glided through the corridors faster than ever.

"NO." He flew up the flight of the stairs with groundbreaking agility. "It's real" he repeated to himself, "It's Real; IT'S RE-WHAAAAA!" He slammed into a helpless middle schooler who got in his way at the top. Tai tumbled over into the hallway and the kid flew into the brick wall, launching all of his belongings across the floor.

"WATCH IT KID!" he roared viciously.

"TAI?! Is that you?!"

The all-too familiar voice rang through his head as he saw a goofy safari cap slide in front of him off the kid's bruised body.

"TK!" Tai howled over the alarm as he gave the kid a massive hug, obviously soiling his nice clothes.

"TAI, WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE? WHY ARE YOU BLEEDING?!"

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO EXPLAIN BUDDY WE GOTTA FIND KARI NOW! DO YOU KNOW WHERE SHE IS?!"

TK thought for a second as they ran together through the chaos. He didn't know what Tai was thinking but this better not be his idea of a joke. Tai was infamous for pulling these crazy stunts and while often they were funny, he couldn't stand when people got hurt in the process. He looked up to Tai in many ways but thought he was too reckless at times, even though in the recent years he became much more mature and level headed. He heard cries and uncertainty ringing throughout the classrooms they passed and knew that this had to be the real deal. There was no way Tai would be dumb enough to pull something this crazy; this time people were really getting hurt. Suddenly, he remembered where Kari was.

"Tai, wait I know where she is!"

"What?! Where?!"

"This way! Follow me; quickly!"

He ran to Kari's classroom and grabbed the steel door knob. He twisted and shook it with all his might but it was locked tight.

"Tai, it won't budge!"

TK screamed and pounded the door ferociously but nobody inside took notice due to the overwhelming sound of the alarm blaring in their ears and the bloodcurdling cries that shot across the classrooms. He could hear desks being toppled, kids getting knocked unconscious with falling desks and tiles, and everyone yelling at each other in the process.

"They can't hear us in there, Tai, it's hopeless!" He aimlessly screamed again for her to hear him. "KARIIII!"

"No, TK. It's not."

Tai approached the massive classroom door seething with determination and with one roundhouse kick broke it right off its hinges. TK's eyes widened in disbelief for a moment at the sheer power his friend possessed. No one else TK knew could have broken down that door, not even Matt. It flew swiftly off and came crashing down into two desks which crippled under its weight.

Kari gasped when she saw the door come hastily crashing down. But all it took was one glance at her brother and TK standing in the doorway to come to the dreaded realization of what was going on.

"Oh no.." she gasped to herself and ran up to them, not even taking the time to grab her belongings; she knew she wouldn't need them where they were going.

Davis however wasn't too quick to catch on, however, and came running only because Kari left the room.

"KARI" he whined, "Where are you goinggg!?"

The trio ignored Davis and kept running as fast as they could through the school. As the others kept moving only Tai stopped when they leapt ignorantly over the stale bodies of two security guards, buried under a tomb of rubble. They looked more like corpses than living bodies, and Tai figured they were the security that the greeter had sent after him before she sent the entire school into chaos.

"Tai, what's wrong we need to get Kari out of here!" Cried TK as he spun around, evading a heaving ceiling panel.

"Shut up TG, *WE'RE* not getting Kari out of here! I AM!"

"Davis, YOU SHUT UP!" Kari scolded in the defense of TK.

"ALL OF YOU BE QUIET!" Tai yelled over them. "TK, get everyone to the main entrance, the security door has been, errr, unlocked." He winced as he recalled his fight with the greeter, and how he had broken the school security door right down. "These men could die if I leave them here, it's my responsibility to help them to safety. They wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for me!"

Kari became very concerned, "Tai, but the same could happen to you if we all don't get out of this building now!"

Davis ran over to him, "Yeah! Tai let me help you!"

"NO!" Tai roared as he stood up and knocked Davis to the ground.

Davis tumbled and fell upon his back. His eyes began to swell as he cowered beneath the image of his mentor. Tai was very rarely like this, but when he was everyone around knew not to question him. Only Matt had the guts to say anything if he disagreed. Though even Matt had to summon all his bravery to challenge the child of courage. Tai could be truly terrifying when he was in this hostile state.

Tai turned his back to the younger kids.

"Go..."

As Davis and Kari scurried down the staircase, TK looked at Tai admirably for a moment. Tai was rough around the edges, but his heart was truly there, though it didn't always show. A small smile grew upon his face, and he chased after the others before Tai noticed him still standing there.

"KARI, this way!" Davis hollered as they fled down the stairs.

"Davis, the exit to the school is this way!" she cried. "You're going the wrong way!"

Davis knew that. He just didn't care. He just wanted to get away from TK so he could look like the hero. He knew his judgement was completely off, Kari or himself could get severely hurt... Or worse. But the mere thought of Kari being rescued by stupid TK clouded his judgement. In his mind it was completely worth the risk. And besides, they had been through worse than this... Hadn't they?

"No! I know a shortcut! Let's go!"

Kari looked behind her one more time, unsure of his decision. She let go of her fear though and ran after him. Davis ran in a senseless direction. He made endless twists and turns, knowing still that the longer he took to get them out of there the more likely it was that they wouldn't make it out at all. The smoke that clogged the air made the running unbearable; not only could he not see, but even simply breathing became progressively more of a challenge. After minutes of running around the labyrinth, he turned around. Kari was nowhere in sight. Davis was alone. He was in complete vertigo, Kari was lost, smoke and debris were everywhere, conflagrations blazed at all sides. In sheer panic, he looked around frantically and sprinted in every direction. But his efforts were in vain and he found himself cornered by blazing fires. Davis clawed furiously at the flames that engulfed him and collapsed as he ran into a brick wall. Tears of desperation formed a river upon his face; there was no way out! He felt his head pulse intensely with blood and his skin began to burn. He screamed for help but it was hopeless under the power of the alarm. He saw his complexion begin to turn charred and the pain was so intense that his brain could not even register it on a sane level. His flesh corroded and steamed before his eyes, mutating and spewing his blood across the floor. Was this it? After all his perilous adventures in the digital world, would his demise would be in this burning school? In one final breath he rose his head high and cried one last time, but a hand suddenly grabbed his own, and he felt his body being flung from the flames.

"Tai...?"

But then everything went black.

...

"Oh God, Davis Please wake up! PLEASE wake up!"

Kari's sweet voice rang through his head, purging itself through the despair he felt.

"Tai, come here! He's up! He's up!"

Davis' eyes were sprinkled with stars. He was eternally grateful that Tai had saved him and that Kari was unharmed. He spoke very weakly as he saw Tai kneel down next to him.

"Tai... You saved me... Thank you."

Tai smiled as he pushed Davis' brown hair off of his forehead,

"I'm not the one you have to thank, Davis."

Davis' stomach dropped. His entire body felt as if it was submerged in a vat of smoldering magma. It couldn't have been Kari that carried him all that way. His plan backfired completely. He ended up being the damsel in distress, looking like a complete _wuss_ right in front of Kari. Not only did his stupid plan almost kill him, but TK was now a bigger hero than ever. He saw TK stand up a few feet away from him, completely avoiding eye contact. Davis forced out the most sincere "Thank you" possible, when really he wanted to wring the stupid blondie's neck.

"T-thanks TK."

"Yeah, no problem Davis."

'Shoot,' Davis thought; 'He saw right through that fake apology. There was no way he didn't, that look he gave me...' Davis cringed at the mere thought of it. But he ignored his own personal thoughts to pay attention to what the others were saying; he would redeem himself, and _nothing_ would stop him from doing so.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOTHING HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED YET?!" Kari was definitely losing it, which was a rare and terrifying sight indeed.

"Look, Kari I know it sounds crazy but I've had the feeling with me all day. Also, I got this crazy text from Mimi."

"Tai, TK and I got that too, but it's probably nothing! You literally just blew up the middle school because of a stupid text! Do you realize what you've done?!"

"Kari, you don't understa-"

"What don't I understand Tai?! That now, because of you, people are hurt and an entire building is destroyed?! You don't think these things through, you never do!"

Davis gulped; this was gonna get ugly. Tai looked like he was ready to tear Kari apart, until TK stepped in.

Tai wanted to tell them what happened that morning with his crest, but the words refused to come out. He didn't exactly know why, but his instincts told him that it wasn't the right time to let them know.

"Kari, it wasn't Tai's fault that the building began to fall apart."

"That's right!" Tai exclaimed. But then his face darkened for a moment. "Wait... It wasn't?"

"No, Tai. Not directly anyway. You did trigger the alarm and the lockdown, but while I was running around looking for Davis and Kari, I saw something interesting. There were fuses lying next to the central furnace, which was what caused the entire building to enter a meltdown."

Kari got impatient, "Get to the point TK. The furnace was just another part of the process of DESTROYING the entire school."

If looks could kill, Tai knew he would be dead. He had never once received a vicious look like that before from Kari.

'Damn, she's getting tough,' he thought, 'I need to remind myself not to spend so much time with her... She's becoming just like me!'

TK spoke up, "No but you don't understand. There's a twist in the plot; those fuses were placed intentionally next to the furnace and CUT. With the fuses cut, the furnace and all the other power systems of the school all overheat. When they overheat, every power system in the school goes crazy and blows up, causing the nightmare that just happened!"

Tai and Davis simultaneously felt a spark ignite within them.

"SOMEONE TRIED TO HAVE US KILLED!" they screamed in unison.

TK responded emotionlessly. "Exactly; so you see, Kari, Tai's instincts were spot on. It's a good thing he came when he did, or who knows what would've happened!"

"You're right TK, I'm sorry" Kari said apologetically.

Tai made a rude gesture behind Kari's back when he didn't get an apology. However, Kari quickly realized her error.

"And Tai, I'm sorry I doubted you, I should've known better."

'There ya go, Kar,' he thought to himself. She finally calmed down and started to act like herself again. "Don't worry about it Kari, I'm just glad that everyone is okay. Still it doesn't answer two of my questions; 1: Who tried to kill us and 2: We still don't know what was up with Mimi's text!"

"Hey," Davis interrupted, "I just realized that I never got that message from Mimi," Davis responded.

"Does Mimi have your number?" Kari questioned.

"I'm not sure, but I know for certain that she has Yolei's number and Yolei just texted me that she never received it as well. Neither did Cody and Ken. While you all were fighting I sent them all a message asking about it. So it seems that only the originals are receiving Mimi's text..."

"Maybe," Kari replied, "But we only know that me, Tai, and TK received the message. The others we haven't heard from yet."

"Wait, I just got a text from Izzy," Tai exclaimed, "It's a forward of the same message Mimi sent to us! He's asking if I know what it's about!"

"That means that he got the text too!" TK exclaimed, "This is too much to be just a coincidence. There's gotta be some meaning behind all this..." TK looked up at the sky, as if waiting for some answer to reveal itself. They were stuck in the middle of a rock and a hard place, no one seemed to know what to do.

Tai stood up valiantly, the sun blazing behind his silhouette. His words rang with confidence; he knew exactly what needed to be done.

"We need to reunite the Digidestined. I know in my heart that there really is a threat to both worlds, and we've been called upon once again." Tai looked down at the younger kids beside him, "I don't know what will be waiting for us out there, but this may be our greatest challenge yet. Are you guys okay with going back?"

"If you're going Tai, then so are we!" Kari walked up to her big brother and gave him a hug. She looked up into his deep brown eyes, "Wherever you go, I'll be by your side. I won't let you down." They both looked across the empty fields of their schoolyard. Though their world was plunging again into darkness, at this moment everything felt alright. A gentle breeze carried the cool spring air across the empty fields while the blades of grass reflected the glimmer of the beating Middle School smoke resided behind them, out of sight, out of mind. Clouds broke into a cerulean sky in front of them, casting a serene light upon the earth. Everything would be okay.

Tai abruptly broke Kari's embrace with a quick jerk.

"I forgot! I was supposed to meet Sora at the soccer fields; we were gonna get ice cream today!"

TK felt a surge of irritation sweep over him and smacked face into his palm.

"Tai... Don't you think there are better times to be going for ice cream...:?" He asked rhetorically.

"TK, I wasn't planning on going for ice cream, don't be stupid. We need to know if Sora is involved in all of this as well."

"Then what are you guys standing around for?!" Davis hollered, "You need to get going quick and figure this thing out!"

"But Davis we can't just leave you he-"

"Yes you can! he interrupted, "You have to..."

"But what abo-"

"I'll be fine, Kari... I promise. There's no point in letting me slow you guys down. There's just one thing..."

"Tell me Davis, anything at all."

Kari knelt down next to Davis and put her hand on his chest. Her simple touch gave Davis the strength to pick his head up and gaze into her beautiful eyes, one last time.

"Kari... I know where all of you are going, and I know that I may not see you again for a long time... Maybe never again..."

He averted his gaze to the horizon and gulped down his pride. He had to be willing to sacrifice his own desires for the good of the team and not delay them anymore.

"Kari..."

He had to do what Tai would do, even if it meant losing Kari. It wasn't just about him anymore; it was about the world.

"Please...Don't forget me..."

...

"We need to hurry up, it's no telling when we'll need to be ready for whatever Mimi was talking about!"

TK and Kari struggled to keep in range of Tai, who was sprinting swiftly across the fields, racing against the winds. Mid-run he spun around, "C'mon guys! We don't have time to rest!"

"Grab onto me Kari," TK said gently.

A quick glance into his welcoming eyes was all she needed to fall under his spell. She grabbed his soft hand tight and used his strength to carry on.

The trio moved from the middle school grounds up to the high school. The stadium soccer field was in sight now, standing high above the flat grass fields. A lone figure stood outside the entrance gate, her hair swaying in the wind. She called out to the others, "Tai?! And..." She squinted into the distance, "Kari? TK?!"

Tai's face lit up when he saw her, "Sora! Sor-," His expression transformed into one of sheer terror. His eyes screamed at their slowly impending doom, and his life turned into a blur. Mimi's message flashed back into his mind and finally it all made sense. Tai sprinted harder than ever before to Sora, his feet tearing apart the frozen earth. He shrieked at the top of his lungs as he dived at her stunned body, "GET DOWN!"

She heard it before she saw it. Sora, bewildered, spun around to her imminent death. Her eyes closed and she opened her mouth to scream with her final breath.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-!"

Tai's crippling force flung her down, slamming her face into the cruel ground as steel projectiles whizzed past her hairline. Her body was paralyzed under his, and she could feel her bones still trembling from the impact. Everything around her was in complete vertigo. A jet airplane had just grazed the top of the arena, sending bleachers and metal debris firing down like meteors to the Earth. Sparks erupted from the stands above their head and she turned the other direction only to see the field being set ablaze from heat coming from the plane's exhaust. Sonic booms razed her ears as the jet turbines screamed to keep the plane elevated, creating sounds of which felt like tremors shooting through her skull.

"AAAAHH!" She howled in pain again and clawed maniacally at the boy on top of her. Tears flew out of her eyes and she screeched with all the air she had until her face turned deathly red. His powerful hand pulled her abruptly to her feet, bringing her close to his warm body as she almost lost her balance. She trembled furiously beneath his arms but clung onto them for dear life. She looked around her and saw pure devastation; bleachers and stadium fences littered across the schoolyard; smoke from the plane engines rapidly devouring any clean air in sight. Another crash erupted by the school building as the tail-end of the jet smashed into the structure. Wails and piercing cries rang from the direction. Bricks from the structure sent heaves of soil firing upward in every direction as they imploded into the ground. Sora felt herself being pushed suddenly to the ground once again in order to evade the meteor shower of soaring projectiles. She tumbled violently across the dirt as if she was swamped by a tidal wave, losing all sense of direction.

"SORA OVER HERE!"

Blinded, she scurried in the direction of the voice, sputtering up blood as she gagged under the suppression of the smoke. She crawled psychotically across the earth, dragging her face through dirt and filth as she stumbled and tripped through the chaos that surrounded her.

"STOP! STOP!" she heard a voice yell as she collided with the speaker. She felt two warm arms sweep her off her feet and off the ground. They caressed her skin with gentleness and security, and at that moment there wasn't a place in the world she'd rather be.

"You're safe now! You're okay! Thank God you're okay!"

Dazed still, Tai's voice fell from a yell to a soft whisper beneath the chaos. At this point, Sora felt as if she was dreaming, but she glanced back at the plane. It rolled across the school fields and looked like it was ready to take off again. She looked upon her carrier one last time; "Tai..?"

And then she drifted away in his arms. Tai shook furiously from the adrenaline pulsing through his veins. In the distance he saw the entrance gate to the plane lower to the ground and a blurry pink figure run down the ramp and towards the school. 'It couldn't be... Mimi?'

Suddenly Tai felt his crest tingle on his chest. A memory sparked in his mind, an image from his past. He now remembered what he couldn't recollect earlier that day, what Gennai had told him about _balance. _It seemed like just yesterday, he was only 12 years old and still knew little about the digital world although he had had his own adventure.

Gennai spoke to him after the defeat of Apocalymon, "In the digital and human worlds, when one force, of light or of darkness, becomes too strong, the other will rise up to gain power once again."

"But Gennai," he asked, "Does that mean that we were...?"

"Yes... You kids were called to save our worlds because a great darkness was rising, sending both worlds into chaos. You were the rising light that brought balance back to our worlds, as all of the digidestined are. And you will be called upon once again if we are threatened in the future."

It was clear to him now... But this time he was sure that it wasn't an overpowering darkness that threatened their worlds... It was the light.

.

.

.

WOOOHOOO - So that's it everyone! Chapter 1 is done! If you have any questions about what's going on PM me and I'll be happy to tell you. Just a recap on the events (since this may have been slightly hard to follow) After Tai and Sora talked outside the school- Tai ran to the middle school- wreaked havoc in there and got TK Kari and Davis out- Somebody blew up the furnace and tried to kill them all in the school- They ran back to the High School to find Sora- A crazy jetplane crashed through the stadium and onto the fields, which was the meaning of Mimi's text!

The beginning of the next chapter will reveal a lot more stuff to you guys on all the madness that's going on, this chapter was a bumpy ride!

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, please rate, review, follow the story, PM me, etc. Any feedback at all is great!

Until next time, thank you for reading!

~Ty

**_(Attention:_** If you read this story before 5/28/13 than there may have been some confusion with the transitions between scenes because the doc. manager took out the (***'s) i was using to transition. It has now been fully updated and whenever you see: (...) you know that a transition is occurring. Thanks for your understanding!_**)**_


	2. Uncertainty

Hi everyone, it's Ty again. First of all, let me thank everyone for the feedback I got on Chapter 1, I wasn't expecting anything near as much as I recieved, I don't think I've ever seen a Chapter 1 get so much attention, so thank you! This chapter was supposed to be up like 15 days ago, but it just kept getting longer and longer. Initially, it was only supposed to be about 5,000 words, but then it became longer and longer and I added in a ton more things. So I guess all in all it's become a pretty awesome and intricate chapter; there's a lot of stuff in it that will become very very important later on, but then there's also very small details that will go unnoticed but will play a huge part in the storyline- I promise, it's gonna be great. This chapter takes Tai's complete point of view so you'll get to see a little bit more into what's going on in our main character's life. Other news in Digimon though, it has returned to TV on Nicktoons network! I hope all of you have been watching just as I have, 8pm Eastern every weeknight, its been pretty amazing that this show is still alive today after so long! 2 other quick notes, for the chapters when a character is thinking something it will be surrounded by '...' instead of the normal "..." when someone is speaking. So if some dialogue sounds wierd make sure you're checking the quote marks. Final note, for those of you who read Chapter 1 on the first day it was out, it may have been more confusing due to the website removed my transitions from the story when a scene would change. So when there's a change of scenes you'll see a ton of periods like this on its own seperate line. ( ... ... ...) Okay this is a long enough intro, please enjoy the chapter and Favorite, Review, Follow, etc!

Chapter 2: Uncertainty

Tai ran. Everything was quiet now and as still as death. The airplane hummed softly in the distance. He panted as he chased the pink figure he had saw run into the school. His vision was blurred by remnants of smoke that still smothered the land. As he approached the entrance to the building two more people came out with the girl in pink.

"Matt! Izzy! And Mimi! It is you!"

"Well, duh, who else would it be!"

Tai cringed as Mimi flung herself onto him, almost knocking them both over.

"Tai, I haven't seen you in so long we _have t_o catch up!" In his mind Tai rolled his eyes; naturally Mimi had forgotten that a freakin' plane just landed in the schoolyard and almost killed four of them, let alone the fact that both worlds were in danger again.

"Mimi," he said softly so not to offend her, "There are a lot more important things we have to worry about than just you and me."

At first she gave him a look like she was going to snap back and call him "Insensitive" or "Rude" but then something seemed to click. She bit her tongue before she spat her words back at him and looked down at the ground. "Y-you're right, sorry. What do you guys need to know?"

Izzy chimed in; "Well Mimi you should start with telling us why you're here in the first place!"

"It all started last night when I woke up in the middle of the night and saw my digivice going crazy an-"

"Wait what do you mean "Going crazy?" Matt interrupted.

"It started flashing a ton of colors and making a bunch of beeping noises, it was unlike anything I've ever seen. My entire room became almost too bright to see anything. But then as soon as I grabbed it the light condensed into a holographic figure of some sort."

"... ... ... ... ...AND?!" Matt yelled to her.

"And What?" she replied.

'Mimi must have the attention span of a two-year old..' Tai thought to himself as he watched her nonchalantly braid her hair as she sat on a rock, staring into space. She looked back at them, obviously confused.

"Matt asked how the device went crazy and that's what happened!"

Izzy looked like he was about to completely lose his shit. He gritted his teeth as he furiously uttered back, "Mimi...TELL..US.. WHAT.. ELSE.. HAPPENED.."

"Geez, alright you just had to say so!" she said with her obnoxious laugh.

Izzy, Matt, and him all face palmed at her stupidity.

"So, there I was, everything was dark now. The only light in the room came from this weird holographic figure. I was really freaked out until I realized it was Gennai!"

"Gennai!?" Izzy replied in shock. ""G-Gennai contacted you of all people?!"

"Yeah! It seems like he finally developed some sense!" She whipped her long hair back in pride.

"Forget that," Tai interrupted, "What'd he tell you when you spoke to him?"

"Well, he really didn't say much at all. He just told me that I had to reach you guys as soon as possible by any means necessary. He seemed pretty frazzled so I just listened to his orders. He said that America; New York in particular, would be in severe danger on a very short notice. He also mentioned something called a Digital Plague, but he never explained exactly what it was."

'A Digital Plague...'

Tai could tell from the others' expressions that they didn't have a clue what it was, not even Izzy.

"Well, there's no point in sitting around doing nothing," he said, " If this is as serious as you're saying then we need to get back to the digital world right now. But why did Gennai send you all the way to Japan when we can just use the digi-ports?"

"I was afraid you were going to ask that..."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Apparently all the D3's and the standard digivices around the world are dead."

Matt's eyes, which rarely opened more than a centimeter, shot wide open.

"What do you mean...Dead..?" He said.

"Like they're done, completely. Broken, unusable, finished. All of the Digidestined that we've met in the past have lost their power, their connection to the Digital World, everything! It had something to do with all of the digi-ports closing at the same time, but all Gennai said was that a single portal had opened above New York City. It would be our only hope of returning to the Digital World. He also said it wouldn't stay that way for long, so I left as soon as I could to find you guys because there was no way in _HELL _that I was gonna go save both worlds all by myself."

"Yeah, or were you just too lazy to have to do anything without us catering to your every need?" Matt said smugly.

Mimi turned her head to face him, and gave him a very stern and serious look.

"Matt... We both know that's not the person I am anymore..." Tai made a mental note that it looked like it was too painful to say anything more.

Matt made an apologetic face and avoided her direct eye contact. "Right... Uh, sorry Mimi.."

Tai noticed silently that she didn't respond. 'What was that all about..?' he thought.

He spoke up to break the silence, "Well, there's no use in sitting around here. The only way we're gonna get to New York City is by plane, and we need to get moving. We can discuss more once we're all aboard if we need to. Are you sure this thing is in any shape to fly again?"

"Definitely," Mimi replied confidently, "We have a little rear end and bottom damage from the crash, but I did a quick systems check as I landed; everything seems to be in good working condition. We'll have an easy flight to New York."

"Alright," Tai replied, "Then let's get going, we've got no time to lose."

Without a word, the four of them got up and headed over to the docking ramp.

Tai strayed in the other direction when he saw TK and Kari struggling to carry the unconscious Sora over to the plane. When they saw him coming they immediately rested her down and let him take care of her. He walked over to her limp body and gently rested one of her hands in his. He turned his head as a precaution to make sure that no one was watching. He lay both of her hands on her stomach and brushed any dirt from her body.

He could feel his heart beat faster and a rush of anxiety sweep over him. Tai edged his hand to her face and stroked the fair skin on her cheek. It was softer than anything he'd ever felt before; softer than he had even imagined in his deepest thoughts. Sparks flew in his mind as he felt her in her most vulnerable state. He had to fight his animal instincts from corrupting him, from making him push further. But her beauty was intoxicating, and he felt himself at a loss of air. He took a deep breath and settled down. He gently lay two fingers upon her eyelids and closed them shut.

He lifted her off the cold earth and walked solemnly back towards the airplane. Tai wanted to punch himself in the face for almost letting his urges get the best of him, especially when she was so helpless. It was strange, the feeling that possessed him. Since they were children he had never really seen her in the light he did now. Even though he had feelings for her for quite a while now, he never felt the way he did right now. The fact that she was becoming older, as he was too... He frowned to himself as he felt an echo of sadness that seemed to plague his thoughts. It sent chills down his spine; he couldn't make out how he felt about it.

Suddenly, she began to stir in his arms. He peered into her face as her eyes cracked slightly open. She squinted strongly as she looked into his chest, avoiding the glare of the sun behind him. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he felt her hand slowly creeping up his body.

Just a minute ago he felt bad for almost taking advantage of her, but from the way she was stroking his body, he wasn't sure how bad he felt anymore.

She was fully coming to now. Mid-yawn she said, "Mmm...Matt.."

Tai felt his arms almost give way and drop her. His mouth dropped wide open and he froze in his tracks.

'Matt?!' He thought furiously, 'MATT?!'

She scrambled a bit in his arms when she felt him stop walking. Tai found himself looking her dead in the eye.

'Ahh, fuckkk...' He could tell that neither of their expressions promised anything good in the moments to come.

"T-Tai? I mean Tai? R-right Tai, of course!" She laughed apprehensively obviously trying to cover up the fact that she thought she was having a romantic moment with her boyfriend. "Hahaahaaa... Yeahhhh..."

Neither of them did anything other then avoid eye contact. Finally, Tai spoke up, "Sora, do you want me to...-"

"-Yea," she replied, immediately jumping out of his arms.

Tai stood still while he watched her limp _away _towards the plane...

'Away from me...' he thought.

Once again he felt isolated from everything he knew. He felt so small against the world. Everything was falling apart, and internally he struggled to hold on to his own strength; the strength that everyone depended on.

'My team depends on me...'

He shook his head to free himself from these depressing thoughts. He walked to the plane, remembering that it was the first time they had all been together in almost a year.

As Tai walked up the boarding ramp, his eyes caught on to TK still pacing around outside. It looked like he was talking to himself as he walked back and forth around the plane's wheels. Tai laughed slightly to himself, wondering what the heck TK was doing.

"TK!" he called, "Everyone's inside already, are you coming in?!"

Startled, TK almost jumped out of his skin when he heard his name called. He looked around, terrified, until his eyes spotted Tai.

"Yeah, I'm coming! Sorry!" he called back.

"It's fine! I'm sure everyone's eager to see you, I think we'll be taking off pretty soon!"

Tai stopped walking and waited for TK to catch up to him. He gave an awkward grin to Tai as he walked by, probably still embarrassed that he had been caught talking to himself.

Tai tried to anticipate how it would be to see everyone again. The whole original gang; he could feel himself almost bleeding excitement. A huge smile made its way across his face; he couldn't help but grin when each step he took up the boarding ramp meant being a shorter and shorter distance from his friends.

It was Izzy's voice that he heard first, "Tai... We have a serious problem."

Tai's grin faded in a matter of seconds. How did he know that something would go wrong. Everyone was sitting in a circle discussing their attack plan, just like old times. TK walked past Izzy and took a seat next to Kari.

"What's goin' on Izzy?"

"Joe is... Missing..."

"Wait, he's what?!"

Tai wasn't sure whether he really didn't hear Izzy right, or if he just didn't want to hear any bad news. He took a second glance at the circle they sat in and realized he was telling the truth. Joe was nowhere to be found. Everyone's faces looked down or distraught by the bad news.

"We can't find or get in touch with him. In fact, we have absolutely no clue where he is."

Tai took a seat on the arm of one of the chairs, as far away from Sora as possible, who he still felt awkward about being in the same room with. They were all sitting on the arms except for Izzy who sat in the chair next to him, configuring his laptop, and Matt, who stood idly in the corner next to the boarding ramp.

"Well so much for the Crest of Reliability," Tai said irritably. "Unfortunately, we're gonna have to wait for him or get in touch with him somehow. Have you guys tried texting or calling him yet?"

"I texted him three times," Mimi said, getting out of her seat. "And he didn't respond once. Stupid Joe is probably too uptight to keep his phone on him during class!" She left the room in rage and headed into the cockpit.

"We can't be sitting around waiting for him to show up," Matt said coldly from the corner he stood in, "We can't risk the fate of both worlds on if Joe decides to show up today! Besides, do you guys think that the people in the school are just ignore the freakin' jet plane in the field?!" Matt's face started heating up and he became very expressive. "We're not gonna be able to hold this position for more than a few minutes!"

Tai felt his blood begin to boil, Matt once again had proven to be nothing but a complete dick. His stupid, arrogant expression infuriated him as he stayed in his "Cool" pose against the wall. Tai figured that he must have been expressing his emotions on his face because suddenly Matt shot him an angry look.

"WHAT?! YOU GOT SOMETHIN' TO SAY?!"

That was it. That was all he needed to tear Matt apart. The world stopped spinning as he laughed quietly to himself and slowly stood up above Matt's level. His voice sounded like a sonic boom as he sent the rest of his friends scurrying to opposite sides of the plane.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! HAVE YOU LEARNED ANYTHING IN THE PAST 5 FUCKING YEARS?! WE AREN'T LEAVING _***ANYONE***_ BEHIND, NO MATTER WHAT! YOU THINK YOU'RE SO TOUGH AND THAT YOU CAN JUST GO AND SAVE BOTH WORLDS BY YOURSELF?! WELL, UNTIL YOU CAN, TOUGH GUY, TAKE A SEAT AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Matt gave him the nastiest look possible, shook his head, and walked towards the front of the plane. Tai knew he was obviously going to hide himself from the world as he always did when anything was wrong. And with Matt, something was almost _always _wrong.

"Yeah, Matt, go to your little corner and cry out all your feelings. You're obviously not man enough to even defend yourself."

Matt stopped in his tracks and Tai knew he hit a nerve there. He instantly felt hints of regret for what he said. Once again, he had pushed another one of his friends too far. He wondered if maybe he was the one who hadn't learned anything after all those years, and not Matt...

"Tai, you're the one who needs to _**Shut Up!**_ Have you ever thought that maybe I'm mature enough that I don't need to scream at people to make a point! Honestly, Tai, grow the fuck up already, the only thing you've proven is that you're an asshole and everyone knows it!"

Tai felt his throat closing up and his heart begin to pound. Matt was right, he was completely right. But at the moment he didn't know what to say. Matt shook his head at him again, almost as if he was disappointed in him, and walked silently to the cockpit.

Everyone was sitting in silence now. Staring at him. He looked at TK first. Matt was his brother; he probably didn't like seeing him get into fights like this. Tai knew he had to say something to the kid, who was now avoiding eye contact with him.

"Uhh, TK..?"

TK looked up at him with his big blue eyes. Tai felt like a total jerk.

"I'm sorry about, well, losing it on your brother."

TK gave him a small grin which lightened the tension that he felt.

"It's alright, Tai. I've been putting up with you and Matt arguing for 5 years now, one more fight isn't gonna bother me."

Tai couldn't be sure if TK really wasn't upset with him or if he just lied so that he wouldn't have to get involved.

"Still, I feel really bad. And Matt was right, I have trouble controlling myself at times. I've gotten better, but it's not good enough. It's just that when he even suggested leaving someone behind, especially someone who's always been there for us, it drove me off the edge."

Sora's voice from the far row of seats startled him, for it seemed strange to be speaking to her again so soon.

"No one blames you , Tai. We all get a little crazy sometimes. I think I speak for most of us when I say that we agree with you."

Tai noticed a consensual nod around the room.

"It's just... You could've handled it better.."

"I know; guys, I'm really sorry all of you had to see me like that and-"

"Well, it's certainly not the first time," Izzy said with a smug grin.

Annoyed, Tai replied, "Okay, so I'm sorry you had to see me like that _AGAIN**,**_ but I'm gonna go find Matt and apologize. In the meantime, you guys should keep trying to contact Joe... I don't know what we're gonna do if he doesn't show up..."

Before he could take a step, a high-pitched shriek rang out from the cockpit. Tai took a glance back at his friends who had the same idea.

The voice was obviously Mimi's and it sounded like she was in trouble. All of them jumped out of their seats and followed him to the cries.

"No! Stop it! What are you doing?!"

The wails got louder as they sprinted forward. Tai grabbed the closed cockpit door and tore it open.

"Matt! Stop it!" Mimi cried, trying her hardest to pull Matt's hands off the controls. "We have to wait for Joe!"

"Waiting for him is gonna get us all killed!" he roared back at her. "We need to get this plane moving now!"

Sora ran up to Matt and tried to pull him off the controls.

"Matt, don't do this! We can't leave Joe behind!"

Tai saw it before it happened. As Sora's hand grabbed Matt's, he swung his arm back in rage.

"Get off me!"

At this point it was all over. Sora crashed onto the floor, spiraling out of control. Matt's fist swelled from its connection with her face, and his other hand stopped moving the controls when he realized what he did. Everyone's mouths were wide open as Sora looked up at her boyfriend, stunned and in shock. With the hint of tears swelling from her eyes she got up and ran out of the room and towards the back of the plane.

It was dead silence as everyone stared at Matt in absolute shock, no one saying a word. He was sweating like crazy now, and he choked and sputtered his words. He trembled as he tried to come up with some sort of explanation for what just happened, but nothing could be said with six pairs of eyes seeing right through his lies. Finally, Mimi broke the silence.

"See what you did!" she shouted, "God, can you _***EVER* **_control yourself?!" She stormed off and left the room to go find Sora.

Tai caught on that Mimi may have spoken from past experience, but he didn't know any specific time that Matt showed no control with her.

'That was the second time today that those two did something weird,' he thought. 'When we were talking outside earlier Mimi also said that she wasn't the same person anymore...'

Matt didn't try to defend himself from her verbal attack. He just stood there blankly and watched her leave the room. Tai watched as Mimi stormed out and Kari and TK attempted to slip out through the doorway as well. Something must have caught Kari's eye because she stopped in her tracks and suddenly took a double take at the window.

"Look! It's Joe!"

TK, Kari, and Izzy ran out of the room as fast as they could, and obviously not just to greet Joe. Tai strayed behind them, noticing Matt's expression turning to one of shame. If it were up to Matt, Joe would have been left behind, and stranded in Japan. Tai quietly left the room without a word and shut the door as gently as possible, taking one last look at his friend. That word felt strange after today's events... But Matt *_**was* **_his friend. He needed to be left alone though; it hadn't been a good day for either of them.

Tai watched as Joe scrambled onto the plane, stressed out as usual.

"Glad you could make it Joe!" Izzy said, "Though your timing is less than ideal..."

"Yeah, Joe, what took you so long?" TK asked.

"Well, since I never bring my cell phone to class, it was lucky that I even got the message by now. The strangest thing happened though; two of my professors in my afternoon classes had to go home due to a sudden sickness. When my classes were cancelled I went back to my dorm and I got a really weird text from Mimi. Naturally, I freaked out and came to find you guys as soon as I could. It was really lucky though that those classes were cancelled, I mean what are the chances of that happening?"

"I don't know Joe..." Tai said skeptically, "After all of our adventures I really don't believe in luck anymore. I think it was more that the universe brought you here by destiny, like you were meant to be with us."

Joe nodded his head, "That makes sense, almost like the world did everything in its natural power to bring me here."

"Either way, it certainly looks like Joe lived up to his crest's name," Kari said.

"Good Ol' reliable Joe!" TK added on.

"Stop, guys, you're making me blush, all I did was show up; really it's no big deal."

"We should really get going," Tai said, "Kari, do you wanna get Mimi for us? It seems like she's the only one who knows how to fly this thing."

"Sure, I'll get her now."

Kari walked to the back of the plane and quietly entered the room with Sora and Mimi. Mimi's rants could be heard from the passenger section where the rest of them were sitting.

"What's going on back there?" Joe asked, "And where's Matt and Sora? I hoped the 'Lovebirds' would be able to spend a little time apart to at least say hi," he joked.

Tai looked at everyone around the room who shared the same awkward look.

"... What... Did I say something wrong?" Joe looked at everyone, and finally directly at Izzy. He started sweating and it was obvious that he was already getting stressed.

"What happened?!"

"Gahhhh..." Izzy stammered, "It's kind've a long, upsetting story Joe, but I promise they're not ignoring you for each other."

Before Joe could respond Mimi stormed through the room once again, Kari trailing behind her. She gave a short announcement to the boys.

"Alright, this is your captain speaking! Everybody sit down, buckle up, and be quiet! We are in for a rough takeoff and a rough flight to New York. So hold on tight and pray to God that we make it there. We once again thank you for choosing Mimi International Airlines for all of your flying needs, and we hope you enjoy the ride."

She strutted into the cockpit as Kari shrugged her shoulders in confusion and followed her inside.

".. Was that her idea of a joke..?" Tai asked sarcastically.

They all sighed and nodded their heads.

Joe made a gesture like he was going to throw up. "Just the fact that Mimi of all people is our pilot is enough to make me sick."

Tai laughed, "Joe, you get sick all the time, we can't take you anywhere!"

"Honestly though, I'm with Joe on this one," said Izzy, "I wouldn't trust Mimi with the simplest of things let alone my life. Also, I have no piloting skills, so if she gets us into trouble there's nothing I can do about it!"

Tai thought seriously for a minute... Having everyone's lives in Mimi's hands was a scary thought at best, let alone if she screwed up there'd be no one there to save them. He wasn't sure whether to stick up for Mimi or look for an alternative way to get to where they needed to go. Tai decided not to think, and just to speak. Whatever words came out of his mouth were his own, and he would face the consequences of what he truly thought was right.

"Mimi's been there just as much as any of the rest of us have... Whether we like to admit it or not, she's come through for us plenty of times in the past. It would be wrong for us to doubt her now.."

Tai cringed as he waited for a response. Was that the right decision? Hell, he didn't know. All he knew was that if they couldn't trust and rely on each other, then they were doomed before they began.

The other two seemed to think about what he said; they sat quietly for a moment deliberating in their heads.

"You're right," said Joe, "Everyone has proven themselves countless times, even Mimi. She's just as much a part of the group as anyone else and we have to treat her like it."

Izzy looked up from his seat.

"Tai, if you think it's the right thing to do, then I'm with you all the way, *even* if it seems completely illogical."

Tai smirked, "Wow, Izzy, I didn't know that you would put your trust in me over all of your logic and statistics. Truly, I'm flattered," he said taking a bow.

Izzy laughed a bit.

"Don't let it get to your head. Under normal circumstances, I'd stick to my insight and knowledge in an instant, but I've learned from experience that you _**always **_get your way and are _**always**_ right, even if it defies all logic and reason."

Tai laughed back and gave Izzy his best sad face.

"Is that alllll?"

Izzy rolled his eyes at him and returned an irritated glare. At first it seemed like a chore for him to say it,

"Anddd;"

But then Izzy did something unexpected.

"I trust you, Tai, because I really think you're a great leader, and you've always personally been there for every one of us."

Tai looked at Izzy for a moment, completely taken back. It was a surprise if Izzy gave anyone a compliment without sarcasm, but he had really said something very thoughtful.

"Wow, Izzy.. I was just kidding, but thanks. I-it really means a lot that you feel that way.."

Before Izzy had a chance to respond, Tai felt the ground suddenly slip beneath him and the three of them were slammed back into their seats. Takeoff alarms blared in their ears and he could feel the acceleration of the plane through his entire body. He tried moving his arms and legs, but it felt like he was glued to the chair. He struggled to turn his neck to the side just far enough to glimpse the trees from the school grounds visible through the passenger windows. Tai realized that they had escaped the high school grounds and were finally airborne. He turned to face Joe, who, naturally, had been flung *under* his chair instead of into it and looked like he was going through an exorcism as he wailed for someone to save him. Izzy was also paralyzed with fear and looked at Tai while they remained frozen in their positions. Finally, out of nowhere they all dropped hard on the ground, faces pressed into the floor as they moaned in agony. Tai rubbed his throbbing cheek. It felt like he had been punched in the face.

" Ughhh," he moaned as he brought himself back to his feet, "What the hell was that?!"

_**"*THAT!*"**_ Izzy grunted, "Was _***Mimi***_"

Suddenly an all-too familiar high-pitched voice came over the intercom.

"Oops!" Mimi yelled over the speakers, laughing ignorantly, "Guess I forgot to shut the passenger windows on takeoff. Hope it didn't get a little too breezy for you boys!"

At that the intercom shut off and they were left in silence. Tai stared, mouth open, at Joe and Izzy, who had the same expression on their face.

"Well, that's it, it's official, we're doomed," said Joe.

Tai shook his head at Joe, who always had to see the worst side of things.

"That didn't feel like wind," Tai said, "I felt more like I was forced back, not blown."

"It's because it wasn't wind," replied Izzy, "The open windows gave us no protection from the G-forces, and the power of them was what launched us backwards, not a breeze."

Tai stared back at Izzy blankly.

"I thought you didn't know anything about planes..."

Izzy raised an eyebrow at him, obviously confused.

"... I don't..."

Tai rolled his eyes. Even crazy physics about G-forces or whatever the heck they were was still just general knowledge to Izzy. Tai brushed himself off and headed towards the cockpit. It had been awhile since he had seen Mimi, and besides, there was a lot they had to discuss. When he walked into the room she was sitting in the pilot's seat concentrating on the controls. It was strange to see her intently focusing on any kind of work, since she was usually the one who sat back and watched the others. Although they always stayed in touch, he hadn't really seen her since the defeat of Malomyotismon. He also sensed that in that time a lot had changed with her, and he didn't know what to think of it.

"Hey Mimi," he said "What's up?"

Without turning around she suddenly raised a finger in the air for him to wait.

"Umm, do you want me to go?" he asked, "If now's not a good time I can come ba-"

"No. Stay," she said, "Just give me two seconds. I have to adjust the throttles, cruising speed, and stabilize the wing parameters."

Tai was lost.

"Uh, right... You do that..."

He sat idly in a chair across the room waiting for her to be finished. Finally, she turned her wheely chair around and rolled towards him. She lay her hands on his knees to stop her from crashing into him and looked up into his face.

"So! What did you need to ask me?"

She got off his knees and leaned back into her chair.

"W-well, nothing in particular. I just wanted to ask how everything's going."

Mimi raised her eyebrows at him. He should've known that he couldn't pull bullshit on her.

"Tai, honestly, I'm gonna be blunt and cut to the chase. I don't have time to play these games with you and we both know you came in here to ask me something, now what is it?"

Tai gulped, "Mimi, really, I just came in here to say 'Hi'"

She continued to stare him down.

"Really!" he said again, exasperated.

She was unmoved and continued to make him feel like he was the biggest idiot in the world.

"Mimi... C'mon, I'm serious."

"Tai... C'mon, I'm serious." she replied, mocking him.

He gave her a look back, but she wasn't phased.

"Mimi."

"Tai."

"Mimi."

"Tai."

"Mimi."

"Tai."

"Mimi."

"Tai."

"Mimi."

"TAI, HONESTLY, I DON'T CARE WHAT IT IS JUST ASK ME!"

"Ughhhhhh," he groaned, "Finnneee."

"I was wondering..." His eyes darted around the room, searching for anything that would give him an idea of what to ask her. Finally, his eyes locked onto the plane's control panel and a perfect idea came into his head.

"Oh! I wanted to know how you learned how to fly a plane!" He gave her the biggest and most convincing smile that he could manage, but she obviously wasn't buying it.

"Umm, okay... I learned at the flight academy in New York City. My father took me to learn because I told him I wanted to take more trips to Japan to visit all of you. After the 9/11 attacks a few years back he became very nervous when it came to flying or riding in passenger planes. He told me that if he was going to pay for all my trips then he wanted me to be prepared and capable in case of emergency. So not only did I learn how to fly, but I learned all the skills needed to stay alive in case a problem presented itself."

"That's pretty cool , Mimi. It'll be nice to have you visit us more often, we miss you here in Japan."

"Right, whatever," she said annoyed, "Well, since that's *_**ALL* **_you had to ask me, you can go now!"

Mimi got up and pushed Tai on his swivel chair out the door.

"Wait, Mimi! Stop! I wha-"

"Okay, Tai, see ya later!"

At that Tai fell on his face as the chair toppled over outside the door. The door was slammed in his face as he lay distorted on the ground. No matter what happened he would always seem to end up on the floor. He really wanted to ask Mimi if something had happened to her that he didn't know about. He couldn't tell what was different, but something seemed off about her. He noticed that it also seemed to involve Matt. She had said some strange things directly to him that Tai couldn't understand what they were about. However, he felt that it was too early to be asking Mimi about these things, so he kept quiet. Matt, on the other hand, was a different story. Tai still had mixed feelings about their fight earlier, but they had to talk. If they stayed at each other's throats for too long, nothing would ever get done.

Tai went to the engine room where Matt was staying and opened the door. When he walked in Matt was sitting alone in the corner, with his head tucked into his arms. Matt glanced up at him when he walked in but just covered his head once more.

"We have nothing to discuss," he said coldly.

When Matt realized that he hadn't moved he sighed distraughtly. "Leave me alone..."

Tai decided to do the opposite. He went over to Matt and took a seat on the floor right next to him.

Matt's tone began to suggest anger but his voice remained in a hushed whisper.

"Did you not hear me? I said leave me alone."

Tai wasn't gonna move, no matter what Matt said.

"I don't need you in here to insult me more or tell me that I was wrong. I already know what a dick I am, so you can get out."

Tai kept looking forward, ignoring Matt.

"Matt, I'm not here to bother or insult you, I-"

"-Well you're doing a pretty good job of it," he spat.

Tai ignored his interruption and continued.

"I came here to tell you that _**I'm **_sorry. I shouldn't have lost my temper, but what you suggested reminded me too much of the time when you almost betrayed Joe at that diner so long ago. I felt as if you were intentionally wanting to leave him behind, instead of the fact that you probably thought it was the best thing to do at the time. I didn't realize that you were thinking of what was best for all of us just like I was, and for that I'm sorry."

Matt looked up from his monotonous stare at the ground and into Tai's eyes.

"Yo-you really mean that Tai?"

"Of course I do. C'mon Matt, I wouldn't come here just to insult you when you're already down. I think neither of us have had a really great day, and we're letting our stress get the best of us."

"Y-yeah, you're right, Tai. I'm sorry as well; I acted like a complete idiot. What you did was bad enough, but at least you didn't attack Mimi and basically beat down your girlfriend like I did."

Tai thought for a minute. He had no clue how Sora would deal with what Matt did to her. He hoped for Matt's sake that Mimi didn't turn her against him. It was the last thing they all needed right now; they had enough problems to deal with.

Matt broke the silence again, "I mean, I'm glad we're cool again Tai, but I don't know what I'll say to Sora. I'm afraid that this may be the end of us if Mimi got to her."

"Well, Matt, the longer you wait here, the more time she has to decide on whether to break up with you or not. Even if you're scared, you have to face your fears and accept the consequences of what happened. I learned many years ago that our fears have to be conquered, and that the only way they could be is by facing them."

"Right..." Matt didn't look too happy with his advice.

Tai smiled at him, "And Matt, just so you know, I've always known Sora to be a very forgiving person; I think she'll understand."

"... I hope so.."

Matt looked like he was in a daze, completely unaware and confused.

"Not trying to be mean, but you should be aware of how she is by now. I shouldn't have to be giving you advice on how to deal with her. I mean... You are her boyfriend."

Matt looked like he stopped breathing for a second.

"Y-you're right... I should know that..."

Tai felt it was an appropriate time to leave. He got up without a word and walked towards the doorway, but stopped in his tracks. Matt instantly acknowledged his presence still in the room.

"Tai? What's wrong?"

Tai knew he should ask Matt what had happened between him and Mimi, why she was presenting such a problem for him, but he felt something stopping him from doing so. It didn't seem to be the right time to ask him about it, he had enough problems to deal with. He continued walking out the doorway without saying a word. It was time he had a talk with Sora himself.

Tai walked hesitantly over to the cargo hold, where Sora was staying. Slowly he cracked open the door and peeked his head around the corner. Sora was sitting in the back of the room with an ice pack on her cheek. She didn't see him at first.

"Sora?"

She became startled and slammed her head backwards against the metal wall.

"Ow!" she yelled at first, rubbing her head, "Ugh, hi Tai."

"Umm, Sora; Can I come in?"

"Yeah, of course, come right on in."

Tai walked in and closed the door behind him. He took a seat on a crate across from her.

"So," she asked, "What's up?"

"Sora... I think you know 'What's up.'"

She looked down at her hands which were folded gently into her lap. Suddenly she started raising her voice and becoming slightly hysterical.

"Well, I don't know what to do, Tai! I know I'm supposed to break up with him and everybody wants me to, but I just can't do it! I couldn't hurt him like that over something that was obviously a mistake! I know for sure that he didn't mean to hit me, and I don't care what you or Mimi or anyone else says, I have to make my own decisions!"

"Woah woah woah, slow down!"

Tai knelt down next to her shaking body and put a hand upon her shoulder, "Sora, no one's telling you to break up with Matt! If anything, we're worried about you two, but not for the reason you think. We all just want you guys to sort things out so we can get back to focusing on the task at hand. Whatever you decide to do we'll support both of you all the way.

She looked up at him confused, "You mean you guys don't all want us to break up?"

"Of course not!" Tai took a seat back against the crate across from her. "Where'd you get that idea from?"

Then Tai remembered that Mimi had followed Sora into the cargo hold before he had got there.

In unison they both said it.

""Mimi""

"Well don't let her get to you. I mean, we all know that Mimi has a tendency to exaggerate the truth to her own liking."

Sora wiped her eyes and started to laugh.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry I blew things out of proportion as usual."

She was right, Tai thought, he had never realized before how emotional Sora could get in stressful situations. He remembered how she had once hidden herself from all of them after being told that her crest would never glow, and how she completely fell for the lies she was told. Tai figured she may have become that way because of her willingness to trust and be accepted by others. He knew that much of her childhood was spent in an attempt to please her demanding mother, who seemed to not give her the time of day. When Sora wasn't accepted or understood, she had a tendency to emotionally lash out in a variety of ways, and could become completely unpredictable.

"It's alright," Tai replied, "Don't worry about it."

He got up and walked over to the door.

"I'm gonna head to the cockpit, I'll see ya later okay?"

"Wait," she said suddenly.

Tai gave her an inquisitive look.

"What's up?"

She took a noticeable breath before speaking.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier, when you were carrying me to the plane. I wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I touched you. It- It wasn't on purpose, I swear! I thought you were Matt, the way you picked me up so gently and carried me away. It was probably just as awkward for you as it was for me."

"Right..." Tai replied unsurely while avoiding all eye contact.

"I mean," she continued, "It's crazy, the thought of me and you being romantic in any way."

She started laughing almost obnoxiously in his face. Obviously it was unintentional, but his heart sank like a stone in cold water. He looked back at her and laughed along to further mask his true feelings.

"Hahaha-Haha.. Yeah that'd be so weird. I could never see us together in a million years."

She continued to laugh beside him.

"Yeah," she replied, "It'd be too weird, I mean, you're like my best friend, Tai. If anything like that ever happened it would ruin how close we've always been."

She paused for a moment to look into his dark, cold eyes and he gazed back into her heated stare. Fire and Ice.

Tai felt a grin breaking across his face as a similar one appeared across Sora's. He couldn't control his feelings whenever she was around. For a second they sat staring and smiling at one another until Sora's voice dropped down to a hushed tone.

"But Tai..." She took a silent breath. "I can't deny that I've often thought of you as more than just a friend to me..."

Tai's heart stopped. His lungs hesitated to breathe and he felt himself drowning in the surrealism of the moment. He choked out his words to her.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean that I've always thought of you not as much as a friend but as a brother!"

The surreal dream that he was immersed in shattered before his eyes. Sweat poured across his body as a wave of dizziness plagued his consciousness. His blood curdled when he saw the carefree grin still on her face. He knew at that very moment that her expression, cruelly ignorant of all his feelings, would haunt his dreams forever.

"I-"

It was all he could force out of his mouth. He got up abruptly from where he sat and started to walk out the door. He couldn't sit in the room with her for one more second.

"Tai?"

Sora sounded confused. She must have sensed something was wrong, Tai thought to himself. He had to cover himself up, as painful as it was. He had to continue to live the lies he convinced everyone of.

"Me too," he choked out sharply with his back turned to her. If she saw his face it would be a dead giveaway that he was lying through his teeth.

He left the room cold and silently pressed the steel door shut. Finally out of everyone's sight, Tai leaned his back against the door and let his strength fail him. Slowly, he descended to the floor until his weight forced him to collapse in agony. Depression felt like a knife, slowly slitting his throat, leaving him too weak to do anything but decay on the floor. Time passed him by as his heart sank deeper and deeper into blackness. It ached within his chest and he felt sick to his stomach. Innocent tears made their way out of his eyes, no matter how hard he tried to hold them in. He painfully coughed until he couldn't breathe and choked on his own spit as it plagued his lungs. Once again he had helped everyone except himself, he didn't know whether to feel proud of his selflessness or foolish.

Suddenly he heard the faint sound of footsteps from down the hallway. He tried to collect himself before he was seen but wasn't able to in time. Tai looked up to see Matt silently standing above him.

"I-Wh-Bu-Y-" Tai stuttered, too shaken to explain himself in his wretched state.

But before he could do anything, Tai felt his body lurch forward, pulled to his feet by a pair of strong arms. Out of nowhere a surge of heat and warmth engulfed his entire being. Tai felt himself breathing fast now and out of control, still stuttering erratically in whispers. At this time Tai couldn't do anything but tremble beneath his best friend's body, which held him beneath its strong arms.

A hand was placed on his head and Matt hushed him, holding him safe within his arms. His words were gentle and kind. Tai could feel them cradle him inside, soothe him beneath the skin.

"Like you said to me, Tai-"

He could feel Matt's breath on the back of his neck, and their bodies were pulled even closer together.

"Even true heroes have their bad days."

The degree of emotion that Matt displayed to him only further sparked and intensified their moment together. Tai stood helpless and vulnerable in the arms of his friend as his eyes began to moisten once more. Matt's hand softly stroked his back as he slowly spoke once more;

"Everything's gonna be alright," Matt lowered his head and looked Tai directly in his eyes,

"I promise."

Tai's body was slowly released. He was too stricken to even respond, so he stood trembling subtly in Matt's presence. Matt's hands still rested on Tai's shoulders, his arms outstretched. They continued to look each other in the face.

"You should get some rest; its been a long day for all of us."

Tai sniffed as he slightly nodded his head in reply. Matt returned a mild smile to him as he opened the door to the cargo hold. His hands gradually moved off his shoulders until their last touch was broken by space. Finally, Matt slipped inside and eased the door shut as Tai stood alone in the dark corridor.

As the overwhelming heat and passion faded away Tai eased into a state of calm. It was very rare for Matt to show anyone that degree of sensitivity, but when he did it was powerful, heartfelt. Though Matt could often express himself as ignorant and cold, these were the moments that reminded Tai of what an incredible friend he had, one unlike any other.

As he walked back to the passenger cabins, Tai pondered on what Matt had done. 'I don't think the others see what I see in him,' he thought to himself, 'His crest; it wasn't given to him because he is a good friend... He received it because he understands true friendship; when his allies are in their time of greatest need, that's when he really shines.'

Tai felt reassured by the fact that he could trust Matt; completely and utterly. In his time of greatest confusion, in a time when everything was masked in uncertainty, he knew that Matt would be there for him. Lying down in the passenger wing, Tai slept soundly knowing there was someone above all others whom he could truly call his friend.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

'Something... Rumbling... An earthquake?'

Tai's drowsiness swallowed the disturbance and his thoughts drifted back into a peaceful slumber.

'What's that noise?'

His subconscious was speaking to him in his dreams, telling him to wake up. The rumbling began again... Louder this time. He pulled himself upright to a sitting position and wiped his eyes. His vision was blurry and he saw silver lights dancing In front of him. He wiped his eyes again to make them go away. The moment after he sat up his head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and he decided to lay back down. He was still tired and wanted to go back to sleep. He was sure whatever the problem was it would resolve itself.

But before he could even close his eyes, everything in the room, including himself, was suddenly shot two feet in the air and then slammed back into the floor. A huge crash from the other rooms sounded, and now Tai sprung to his feet, fully alert and awake. He slid his shoes on and darted to the cockpit. Trouble was brewing; he knew it.

His eyes locked on to all the broken objects and unsettled items on the plane as he ran. He had to find Mimi to figure out what was going on. Tai leapt over boxes and obstacles, rebounding off the chairs and walls to get to the cockpit. The passenger section became a less and less distance from his destination as he kicked through obstacles in his path.

Beneath Tai's feet, the plane continued to shake violently and turn on its side, sending projectiles that whizzed past his head. Constantly ducking and rolling out of danger, Tai could tell that all this action was totally gonna ruin his hairdo.

All of a sudden a scream rang out behind him.

"AHH!"

He stopped short and grabbed a wall to keep him from tripping over. Swinging back around the wall, Tai spotted a struggling figure beneath a pile of collapsed suitcases. Before he even looked under the mass of baggage he knew who it was.

"Joe!" he yelled as he heard irritated moans from beneath the pile. He couldn't help but laugh to himself as he pushed the objects off of him.

"Ugh, why is it always me that has to get in these messes? No one else falls into rivers or trips into piles of mud. Why, Tai, why is it always me!?"

Tai felt bad for laughing in his face but it was just too funny how Joe was always getting hurt.

"Let's face it, Joe; You're hopeless." Tai stuck his hand out for him and pulled him to his feet.

"Are you okay?"

Joe hung his head low and groaned again.

"Unfortunately."

"If it makes you feel any better," Tai said smiling, "At least you give us something to laugh at."

"GEE, THANKS," Joe replied sarcastically.

Tai opened the door to the cockpit, and to his surprise, everyone was there with the exception of Sora and TK.

"Looks like we're the last ones here," he said to Joe, "Mimi, what's goin' on?!"

"We're losing control of the plane," Izzy replied for her, "We're never gonna make it anywhere near New York if we don't drop the cargo!"

"What?!" Tai replied in horror, covering his gaping mouth with his palm, "Y-you mean we're going down?!"

"Exactly. And very soon too."

Tai felt all the heat in his body rushing to the surface. He could feel his skin burning with anxiety.

"MIMI!" he shouted, exasperated, "I thought you knew how to fly this thing!"

It was his decision to put all their lives in her hands; now he would be responsible for all of their deaths. It would be too great a burden for his conscience to bear, the loss of one of his team alone would scar him for the rest of his life. For some, he would be willing to die if it meant saving them.

'I would die...'

"Obviously I know how to fly the dumb thing, how the hell do you think we've gotten this far?!" Mimi yelled at him.

Tai felt his eyes set ablaze and his sweat-covered fists harden into solid steel. The aircraft was going down and he didn't have a clue what to do.

"Then what's going on?!" he asked frantically.

"I Don't Know, _**TAI**_, it looks like sabotage to me!"

Tai's apprehension began to convert to fear. There was something about that word... Sabotage... It didn't sit right with him, something was definitely wrong.

"I made 100% sure that we had enough fuel for a round trip, but just an hour ago I identified a gas leak in the main engine. The only way a gas leak could occur is if one of the fuel lines in the engine were cut!"

'That's the second time,' he thought. The second time they had been sabotaged. First at the middle school when someone cut the line to the building's power machinery, sending the school into chaos. Now their plane had a gas leak, definitely _**not **_a coincidence.

'But no one was in the field when the plane landed... There was no one there _**to **_sabotage us...'

A piece was missing from this puzzle; Tai could sense something was off about the whole thing. He frowned to himself, he didn't like what was going on, and he was determined to discover the truth behind it all.

"It's okay Mimi, this isn't your fault. In times like this we all need to keep calm and think clearly."

Tai looked around at his friends. Mimi, Matt, Izzy, Joe, Kari. They all looked so unsure of what to do, so lost. None of them spoke a word, but they all looked directly at him. It was the first time in too long that he felt needed by them. He was as lost as they were, but they depended on him to figure out a solution to their past was behind him now, he had to focus on the future if he wanted to survive.

"Mimi,"

She looked up into his eyes.

"We need to know any alternative to dropping the cargo and if you need us to do anything to help you."

She shook her head back at him, "There's nothing else we can do. If we don't drop the cargo very soon we're gonna end up crashing into the mountains beneath us. We're already losing altitude at an alarming rate. Without the excess cargo we'll at least be able to stay at cruising altitude long enough to make an emergency landing."

Joe's eyes popped out of his sockets as if he just woke up now.

"You're saying that there's no place to land in these mountains?!"

"Joe, have you ever seen the Rocky Mountains before?" Mimi yelled back, "There's not a flat strip of land in over a hundred miles!"

Joe grabbed his hair and looked like he was having an anxiety attack.

"Then that's it! We're DOOMED!"

"Stop saying that Joe, we're not gonna die here!" Tai snapped back, "We need to go make sure no one's in the cargo hold first, then we can eject it no problem. Does that sound like a plan everyone?"

They all responded with consensual nods except for Mimi, who spun around in her chair, terrified to speak. Tai instantly noticed her apprehension and held a hand up for everyone to stop.

"Wait... Mimi... What's wrong..?"

She pointed at a clock, no, a timer on the dashboard. Every muscle in Tai's body froze solid as the realization of what was occurring struck him like a thunderbolt. He could feel his crest burning against his chest, seeming to be invigorated by the calamity set before them.

"It-It's o-on automatic. It's going to d-drop-"

"Sora," he finished for her, his eyes dilating into massive spheres.

Tai felt as if he was in vertigo, time seemed to stand still as everything around him condensed into blackness; his senses refused to paint the terrible picture that laid before him. The air around him became too thick to breathe and he began to lose his balance. Sora was still in the cargo hold, unaware that the plane was on a countdown to drop her compartment over 30,000 feet to her doom. No light returned to his eyes and Tai felt himself drifting slowly away from reality.

"TAI!"

A faint sound rang in his ear, it seemed to come over a long distance.

"TAI, WAKE UP!"

It was louder this time and he faintly opened his eyes.

"WE HAVE TO GO GET SORA!"

Then there was a touch. A hand lay itself on his shoulder and his eyes shot wide open as well as his mouth. His body lurched forward violently and his eyes darted around his blurred environment, picking up all the information they could. Finally, Matt's face appeared in his view, screaming in his face, rapidly pushing his body back and forth.

"TAI, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

Tai grabbed Matt's outstretched hand as hard as he could and returned a simple but alert nod. Tai could tell that he was still on his feet because he had never felt himself explode into a sprint so quickly, the windows of the plane becoming a blur behind him as he and Matt ran.

As they neared the back of the aircraft, Joe, Kari, and Izzy came into view. They were all pulling on the door as Joe ran up to them.

"The door's locked! We don't know what happened, but we can't get her out of there, we need some kind of access card!"

Matt's face suddenly brightened as he began to run in the opposite direction.

"There's a security room next to the cockpit!" he yelled back, "Joe, come with me, we're running out of time!"

Without consent Joe dashed after him down the corridors to the front side of the plane. Tai ran over to Izzy and Kari who were desperately trying to break down the solid metal door.

"Come on!" Kari screeched as she slammed the door with a crowbar. Sparks flew as the metals collided with a boom shaking the walls but having no effect.

"This stupid thing," she screamed, taking a breath to swing at the door once more, "Won't BUDGE!"

"AAAGGHH", she howled, bashing the door once more.

"Tai, it's not working the door is stuck!"

Kari started swinging rapidly in a complete panic, shrieking unintelligibly at the top of her lungs.

"THE GOD DANG FREAKING DOOR, WON'T FREAKING GOD MOVE FOR HELL, THE PIECE OF DAMN STUPID, AAAAAAHHHH!"

Tears flew off her face, pouring onto the floor as her face burned in an inferno of red. She started pounding with her fist on the door, slowly sliding onto the floor, too exhausted to swing again. Her punches became weaker and weaker as her chokes and cries became more powerful, leaving her fragile and exasperated on the ground.

Tai picked up the crowbar from her limp hand and faced the door head-on.

"AAGHHH!"

One swing after another exploded against the metal frame, sparks shooting past his face. Tai's muscles tensed up, veins bulging from his olive complexion. Every powerful inch of his body struck the door with sheer force, but despite his efforts, it failed to show any signs of surrender. But he wouldn't give up. He wouldn't give in to doubt. His will was stronger than _**any**_ obstacle that could be placed before him; he would find a way.

Tai took a breath and raised the bar in the air once more. But before he could swing again a muffled cry sounded from beyond the doorway. He stopped his blows and listened for a moment.

"S-Sora?"

He almost jumped when he heard the all too familiar voice speak back to him. It seemed unreal that she was no less than an arm's reach away, yet couldn't be saved.

"Tai? Is that you?"

Tai lay the crowbar on the floor and placed his palm against the door, still almost unconvinced that she was there.

"I'm here, Sora. Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of there!"

"Tai, I-"

Before she could finish, Tai spotted Matt and Joe sprinting back to them from down the hallway.

"Here they are! Here they are!" he interrupted, "Sora, they've got the key, you're gonna be fine!"

Tai quickly faced the two sprinting towards him, still in fear that the room may give way before they could unlock the door. Sweat poured down his brow in anticipation, every second they lost was another one closer to Sora's death, they had no time to spare. His legs couldn't tolerate kneeling down anymore, he felt them exploding from beneath him in a frantic dash towards Matt and Joe.

As he got closer and closer to them, the twisted sickness in his stomach began to return. Tai's run fell to a desperate walk as his limbs became soft and frail, barely capable of keeping him from collapsing. His greatest fears were becoming a reality, darkness and paranoia infecting his mind.

Tai wanted to close his eyes which screamed almost loud enough to hear. They locked onto two pairs of _**pale, empty hands.**_

'It-It's not there! The key's not there!' Tai thought in disbelief.

'This-This can't be happening! A dream? Some sort of sick dream?! This _**doesn't **_happen to us, this isn't how it's supposed to be!'

But no matter how hard he prayed, Tai knew he couldn't change reality.

"Tai, it's not there!" Joe cried to him from down the hall, "The security card wasn't there!"

'This was my wish,' Tai remembered, 'I was the one who wanted to relive the past, the one who wanted all this to happen again.'

"It was the only card missing!" Matt yelled to him, "We don't have a clue where it is, and there's just over a minute left!"

'Not this way...' Tai begged to himself, 'This isn't what I wanted. How could I have been so stupid?! How could I have completely forgotten about all of the horrible things that our adventures have almost caused?! The enslaving of cities, chaos passing through the dimensions, the death of both the digital and human worlds?!'

Tai remembered the time when he had thought that he was like a character in a video game, when he thought he was invincible. He had run around Etemon's pyramid like it was some sort of joke until Sora was captured. If he didn't change his behavior Sora could've been killed. It took one of them almost dying to make him realize the consequences of his actions. Back then he had woken up.

And now he would do the same.

"Everyone needs to try to find the card now! We're running out of time!"

Matt's voice popped back into his head. Everyone around him scrambled in different directions, hysterically tearing apart the rooms to find the key. Tai jumped to his feet to do the same when he heard his name being called again.

"Tai?! Tai, where are you?!"

It was Sora again. He ran over to the door as quickly as he could, he had no time to talk with her.

"Sora, the key they needed is missing, we're all looking for it now, but I need to rejoin the others!"

"No, Tai, wait, please.."

There was no way he could stay here without risking her life.

"I can't! Don't you understand that if we don't find it you're doomed?! I could make the difference between your life or death!"

Tai started to pick himself up to go search as more of her cries emanated through the doorway.

"No! Come back, I-"

Out of nowhere, TK came charging through the room, hysterically screaming for Matt. Papers on the floor shot chaotically through the air as his feet trampled through them.

"Matt! Matt! I know where it is!"

As quickly as he came, he just as soon vanished through the doorway to the mid-section of the plane. Tai knew at once that he had to follow him.

"We only have about a minute left!" he said to Sora, "I can't risk another second here, I _**HAVE**_ to go!

"Tai, _**Please,**_ just lis-"

'Why Can't You Understand?!' Tai cried,"You'll _**DIE **_if we don't get that keycard!"

She sounded almost desperate for him, but he knew that he'd be doing both of them a disservice through inaction. No matter how hard his heart wrenched at her futile cries, he knew he had to resist them. He couldn't sit idly and let her go, he _**wouldn't **_be responsible for her death.

"I can't stay any longer! I'm leaving right n-"

"TAI, YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!"

Tai's eyes shot out of their sockets. Never had he heard Sora yell that loud, his blood curdled at the sound of her voice tearing through his ears.

'Sora...'

Everything around him seemed to fall silent in the moment as he quietly turned around and reproached the doorway.

"The key isn't important right now," she said somberly, "Right now you're the only thing I need.."

Tai grabbed his chest in agonizing pain. It was unlike any pain he had ever felt in his entire life. It felt as if all his ribs had collapsed into his heart, killing him from the inside. It was at that moment that reality came crashing down on him...

"Tai, please, make it easier on the both of us." She hushed for a moment and he could hear her trembling fiercely on the other side of the door, choking on her muffled sobs. "We both know that... That... Th-that they're not gonna make it back in time."

Hushed cries of pain and sickness screeched through the doorway as Tai sat helplessly listening to her spit up over the floor. The roar of her hacking coughs left him paralyzed on the other side of the door.

This was the end. This was the end of everything he had ever known, the end of his past and his present. For the first time in his life he felt completely helpless. No level of his screams or any sheer force could stop the inevitable.

'Sora's going to die'

He couldn't breathe. The air seemed to freeze in his lungs, constricting his body. All he could do was listen to the sound of her purging through the doorway. Finally, the horrible noises stopped and her breathing returned to normal.

"There's no one in the world I'd rather spend my last moments with. No matter how annoying and obnoxious you can be, you've always been there for me. Throughout my entire life, whenever I've needed you, you've always been there. That's more than I can say about even my own parents..."

"But Matt?" Tai asked, "What about him? Wouldn't you rather be with him right now than me? He's your boyfri-"

"Yes.. Matt's my boyfriend," she interrupted, "But no matter how close I am with him, he'll never be you. I don't think he'd ever be able to understand how I feel about you; how I feel about us. And yes, he was there during all of our adventures through the years, but he wasn't there for me like you were. He-he only really came around in the past year or so when I come to think of it... But still, there's not a person in the world that I care about more; you're the only one that I'd want to be with in my last moments."

Tai's heart ached and he began shaking uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face.

"Sora..." he sniffed, "This _**isn't**_ the end. You are _**not **_going to die here, y-you can't! I won't let that happen!"

"I'm-I'm," she said, spitting out her words over a torrent of tears and sobs. "I'm not afraid to die. I just-"

She stopped for a moment and laughed in disbelief.

"It just feels so surreal. I never expected this to be the way I'd go, it really shows that you never know when your time's up, ya know?"

'Oh, God, please end this horrible nightmare. This can't be happening..'

Tai couldn't feel his own body, he was numb from shock and pain. These were the last seconds of her life, this was it, the last thing he would ever say to her. She needed to know how he felt, if this was truly the end. He couldn't live with himself if she died without understanding the truth.

"S-Sora?"

"Yes?"

"There's one last thing I have to tell you, if this is the end, I couldn't live with myself if you didn't know."

"Tai... Please don't hesitate, our time is almost up"

Tai took a deep breath and swallowed his pride, letting his courage show. It was now or never.

"Sora, I know that you and I have been friends forever. I know that you're like a sister to me and you picture me as your brother. I also know that you and Matt are going out and that you probably like him very much, and I'd never do anything to ruin what you two have. But there's just one thing..."

"Yes..?" she asked him, encouraging him to go on.

"Sora, I just can't let you go because..."

His heart raced.

"Well..."

_**'Why can't I say it?!'**_

His hands curled into solid fists.

"It's because..."

_**'Come on, Tai!'**_

Sweat trickled down his neck and into his chest.

"I-I-I"

_**'3 words!'**_

He took a deep breath and let go of all hesitation.

"Sora, I love y-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

'No.'

'NO.'

'_**NO!**_'

"_**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_"

'I MISSED IT! OH MY GOD, I MISSED MY CHANCE, SOMEONE PLEASE GOD SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE!'

Tai opened complete and utter rage against the doorway as every one of his bones cracked and split against the impermeable steel. Every inch of his body exploded in sweat and blood, cuts from his punches ripping apart his flesh as he broke himself against the metal, howling stronger than he ever had before.

"NOO! OPEN! I SAID OPEN NOW! SORA! NO, I CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!"

He was the leader of the Digidestined, he had saved both fucking worlds more than once. No door was going to stop him from getting what he wanted, his will was stronger than any steel. _**His **_resolve was more powerful than any obstacle that could be placed before him.

"I Will _**NEVER**_ Give Up."

He stared at his bloodied fists, stared at the pain he had inflicted on himself. If Sora died today, she would not die alone. Only a few seconds had passed, there was still time to make a difference. He would not lose his drive; his hope.

"Tai, catch!"

In the blink of an eye he spun around to catch the card thrown at him, soaring in the air from Matt's arm. The second after it was thrown, Matt's expression screamed in horror; Tai could tell that Matt saw his own battered and bruised body. He knew they were too late.

'Or so you think,' Tai thought smugly.

'This isn't over until it's over.'

He felt a small flame of courage reignite inside of him, and he stuck the card into the slot. The door had opened; finally, it had opened.

He turned his back to the vicious winds that blew behind the open door. Step by step he edged closer and closer to the drop.

"Matt, tell everyone I said goodbye."

From across the room Tai could see Matt's face twist into a terrible rage. His body lowered towards him and Matt's anger seemed to engulf the entire scene, his face exploding in flames as hot as the sun.

"And tell Kari I love her..."

Matt began to sprint towards him.

"I'm not afraid to die for the ones I love.."

Tai took his right foot back, the first step to his doom. He felt his body fall farther, farther, farther away from the plane, his left foot still in place. Everything was in slow motion now, Matt was only inches away from him, grabbing for his shirt to pull him in. Tai could see Kari turn her head around the doorway, her face screaming in terror when she saw him.

He never heard her yells, everything was a blur, like a complete dream. Matt's hand touched the blue fabric on his collar, gripping it to pull him back in. Tai knew though that he was too far gone to be saved, even if he wanted to be.

In the blink of an eye a blue and black light erupted from his chest and to every inch around him. A repulse of blue sonic energy sent Matt's body soaring back into the room, smothered in a maelstrom of lightning and turquoise fire. Piercing shrieks from the aircraft were followed by a turbulent series of crashes and bangs from Matt's airborne body, bashing the group of teenagers against the steel wall.

It was the last sight of them that Tai thought he would ever see.

He was definitely falling now. He could tell by how fast he was moving. He felt like a comet, streaking across the nighttime sky in a flurry of sapphire flames, all emanating from his crest. It glowed a brilliant light in contrast to the murky darkness that surrounded him, empowering him and washing away his fear. But it wasn't the normal orange glow it always had, it was different; the crest itself felt different.

'Why did it attack Matt?' he thought, 'And what was that strange explosion that it released when he touched me?!'

Flashbacks and memories spun through his head as he repictured Matt's body being helplessly tossed back into the plane. Everything just kept getting weirder. There had been so much that had gone on today alone, Tai didn't have a clue about what was really going on. There didn't seem to be an explanation for anything that had happened.

Wait a second, what was he thinking?! He had to focus on the task at hand. Sora was nearly in reach, he hadn't realized how quickly he was really falling. She was staring up at him, still screaming, reaching for his arms.

"TAI, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY WOULD YOU FOLLOW ME, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS!"

His hand inched closer to hers. Closer. Closer. She was just centimeters away now, her body almost in reaching distance.

"IT'S BECAUSE..."

Wind whipping in his face, his clothes blowing nearly off of his body, he lunged for her hand. They were together now. No fall, no height, not even death could tear them apart. The ground was in sight now, only a thousand feet away. If he had the courage to jump off a plane at 30,000 feet he could tell the girl of his dreams what he felt. Like he said before...

_**'It's now or never.' **_

"SORA... I LOVE YOU!"

The crest erupted again. All Tai could see was turquoise light blinding him through his eyes, pouring out of his body like a river of blood. The blackness from his crest surrounded them as they both cried out into the midnight air, trapped in a torrential storm of lightning and thunderous tremors. Tai felt his body release a shockwave of energy as he and Sora plummeted closer and closer to the ground, firing headfirst to their deaths. Another shockwave was released, and another and another. Sora screamed and shook him violently, howling at him to stop, but he couldn't.

The ground was almost in range. Tai felt himself losing complete control of his body as his hand raised above his head all by itself. Pain and energy seethed through his arm as another tremendous blue energy wave fired through his hand and towards the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He tugged Sora tightly into his body as they braced themselves for impact. The energy wave from his hand flew in front of them, only raising more questions in his mind, as if he'd even survive to answer them.

Three seconds from impact.

He felt Sora's hands across his back.

Two seconds from impact.

Roars louder than thunder screamed in his ears.

One second from impact.

The energy wave hit the valley floor; phosphorescence erupted chaotically from the earth, blinding them as they screamed in horror together. Arm in arm. Nearing whatever destiny lay beyond the pit of blazing light. Together.

Okay so that's it! If anyone is really interested in seeing my progress with future chapters, I will be updating where I am in my bio, so check it out or you can just PM me, I'll update it once a week. Thank you again for reading, please favorite, follow, review, etc. The next chapter is going to be a mini-chapter about Sora's point of view on what happened as she got locked inside the cargo hold and what happened when her and Tai fell. It'll reveal a lot of what has been going on. I'll try to get that chapter out in early September or late August.

~Ty


	3. At Wit's End (Part 1)

Hi everyone, I'm sorry this isn't a full chapter. Ever since mid-August, soccer has taken over my life, completely and utterly. Varsity soccer, Club soccer, Trainer-hosted soccer, it's out of control. Not only that, but school is now in session and I definitely gave myself too tough of a schedule. That's why my writing pace has been so slow lately. This weekend was the only weekend in about a month that I was able to write more than a couple words, I got a lot done in the past two days. Anyway, Chapter 3 is chapter 2 from Sora's perspective, beginning from when she gets knocked in the face by Matt- It goes through a ton of really important things that need to be set up for the rest of the story, and it also shows a bit of where Sora is in her life right now. Just a hint to you guys, the title of this chapter describes Sora completely at this point.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and the second part I'll definitely have out by the end of October... I hope. Last thing! Idk how many of you are checking my profile but every few days I update where I am in the chapter if you want to check up on where the story's at! Or you could just PM me but checking my pro. is usually easier.

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Chapter 3- At Wit's End (PART 1)

"_**GET OFF ME!**_" Matt roared.

Before Sora could take another step, she spotted an elbow flying straight towards her forehead. For just a moment their eyes locked, Matt's furious blonde hair whipping over his savage eyes. Her body was frozen in the moment as she helplessly tried to shield her head from his fist. She pushed her hand off his shoulder as hard as she could to try to escape, but it was too late.

"AH!" Sora cried in agony as she collapsed onto the cold, hard, floor. From her spot on the ground, she slowly moved her hand up to her face. The feeling of a liquid startled her, considering that the rest of her body had gone completely numb from shock. She lifted her frail hand in front of her eyes and saw what was pouring from her nose, slowly trickling down her shirt.

It was blood.

She _hated_ blood.

As soon as she saw blood the nausea started to kick in. Her world became a complete blur, the walls and floors spiraling around her motionless body. Her eyes spun rapidly within their sockets, trying to make sense of the dizzying vertigo Sora had found herself in. Slowly, the spinning came to a halt and the blurs became silhouettes of terrified figures, mouths gaping in horror. They gradually came into focus, colors from their clothes and bodies finally becoming distinct from the bleak gray background of the control room.

Matt's dark figure stood above her, trembling as his fist remained in the same spot that it connected with her nose. No one moved... The silence was more powerful than anything she'd ever heard before. Her eyes darted around the room as she met five separate pairs of eyes staring at her bloodied body, all with mouths wide open.

Tears began to spring into her eyes as no one looked away. Everyone stood still. Everyone was staring at her. She didn't know what to do. She began sweating rapidly as her heart began to pound louder.

Louder.

LOUDER.

Frantically, Sora spun her head every which direction, as if she expected them to stop their horrified glares at her massacred face. More sweat and more tears grew upon her skin as the pressure kept building; as it became too great to even move, let alone breathe. Every muscle in her body seemed to tense up as more and more sweat trickled down her neck. It seemed like a thousand years had passed as Sora could feel everyone's eyes sinking into the back of her neck like fangs.

She would to do _anything_ to get out of there right now.

Finally, her mind took over her body as she exploded into a run and blasted out of the door, crying out just loud enough for everyone to hear. Even as she left, none of them moved; too overridden by shock to know what to do.

"See what you did!"

Sora could tell it was Mimi's voice, the echoes of her shouts reaching from down the corridor.

"God, Matt, what's wrong with you?! Can you _**EVER**_ control yourself?!"

Sora mindfully noticed that no one responded to Mimi's screams; only silence and burning tension emanated from the cockpit.

She ran as far as she could out of that room until she found herself at the back of the plane. Panting, she caught her breath and wiped her face once more with her elbow. She hadn't stopped bleeding and needed someplace to hide herself from the others.

Sora looked around the back area of the airplane. She counted her escape options in her head.

'There's the corridor I just came from, a staircase to the engine room, and-'

"Oops," she said aloud as a large metal object pushed into her backside. She turned around to face what she had backed into; it was a huge metal door with a hatch on it. It reminded her of the doors she would see in the movies when someone was in a submarine or a huge ship. It was one of the doors that would keep someone inside for an eternity if they were ever unfortunate enough to be locked inside.

Sora tried to open it up, surprised at how much of an effort she had to give just to move it.

'I must be really weak,' she thought as she struggled to get inside, 'Or this door is really just _that_ heavy.' Finally, she made it past the door and into the room behind it. She assumed it was the cargo hold of the plane from the various piles of crates and boxes scattered around the place. It was perfect for getting away from everyone else, plus she needed a place to rest.

Her nose was still trickling blood down her cheeks, and her bruises from when the plane crashed in the schoolyard were only getting worse. Her legs felt like they were gonna give out on her at any second. She needed to get some rest.

She lied down on one of the crates and let her head hang limply over the side, facing upwards towards the ceiling. She reached back and applied pressure on her swollen nose to stop the bleeding. Sora winced in pain when she touched it; it felt like it had some bad _internal _bruising. However, she was thankful the damage was only on the inside. She didn't want any visible evidence that her so-called "Boyfriend" was a woman-beater.

'Well thank god for that,' she thought, 'If the others could see how bad it really is, they would make a bigger deal out of this than it already is.'

Despite the pain she was in, Sora felt herself almost laugh at the thought of Matt being abusive, it wasn't like him at all. She figured he lashed out at her accidentally; he was probably still just angry from the argument he had with Tai just before.

But still, there was no excuse for what he tried to do; he tried to leave Joe behind in the heat of the moment; something a child would do. Maybe Matt just wasn't as mature as she thought.

Or more importantly, maybe Matt wasn't as mature as _**he**_ thought he was.

And then there was Tai. He had been acting stranger than ever lately, although Sora couldn't help but feel that she was the only one who noticed this. First he froze up when he saw her and Matt together earlier. Then she found him having an argument with himself outside the school building. And after that he somehow knew all about the plane disaster in the schoolyard before it happened.

Sora gulped and felt a cold shiver creep up her spine. She tried not to remember what had happened when he had carried her while she was unconscious earlier. Vivid memories played back through her head that she yearned to forget.

Her hands on his body.

The scent of lust in the air.

The emotion that caved in once she realized that she wasn't in Matt's arms.

But the problem was she enjoyed it. Even when she saw it was Tai, something kept pulling her closer and closer to his body. Sora couldn't tell if it was solely her curiosity, or if he was what she really wanted.

She had never felt that way for Matt; not once.

'I must be crazy,' she thought hesitantly, 'T-there's no way I have feelings for Tai...'

...

'At least... Not anymore...'

Sora clenched her blood-stained fists in utter confusion.

'What's happening to me?!'

She tucked her head into her knees, letting her hair fall gently around her face to block her view of the room. She didn't want to see anyone or anything right now. All she wanted to do was sit in her own darkness; to get away from her problems; to numb herself to the world and to everyone that had hurt her.

...But from her pit of darkness, a faint light began to shine inside of her. It was unnoticeable at first with her eyes closed, but it grew stronger than even the cloud of blackness she surrounded herself in. A subtle saffron glow drew the darkness away from her body as she picked her head into the light of the room once more.

"I see..." she said aloud.

Sora reached into her shirt and took out her crest. Holding it in front of her, she could see every detail, no matter how minuscule. She had never truly studied it before, The Crest Of Love; it was... Beautiful.

Sora understood what it was trying to tell her.

'There's no use in hiding from my problems by staying in this darkness. No one ever said the times ahead were gonna be easy, but no matter what happens I have to stay strong.'

Sora clenched it tightly in her hand, feeling its radiant warmth spread across her body.

'I'll have to be strong; for myself and for everybody else.'

Slowly the Crest Of Love's glow began to fade. Sora knew that now she truly understood what it was trying to tell her.

"Sora?! Sora where are you?!"

It was Mimi's voice. Sora quickly tucked her crest back beneath her shirt and wiped her swollen eyes one last time.

'Well,' she thought, 'I knew she would show up eventually. Let's get this over with.'

If the Crest of Love wanted her to face her problems, she had to start now. Besides, even if she wanted to avoid Mimi she couldn't do it for long. One thing definitely hadn't changed with Mimi over the years; she was still relentless in getting what she wanted.

Sora got up slowly from the floor, using the crate she sat next to for balance. She still felt light-headed from taking a few too many blows to the head today.

'Today sucked;' she thought, 'That's for sure.'

Sora turned the steel lever and pulled back on the door. It certainly hadn't gotten any easier to open.

"Mimi, I'm over here."

Sora's stomach lurched a bit at the look Mimi was giving her, like she was some poor, helpless, victim or something.

"God, Sora, you look terrible."

Sora rolled her eyes in reply;

"Thanks Mimi," she said sarcastically, "Do you wanna come in?"

"Sure. And by the way, Joe made it on board. I heard Kari spot him out the window after I ran out of the cockpit looking for you."

"That's great," Sora responded as Mimi walked into the cargo hold, "I guess Matt was wrong before when he didn't think Joe would show up. All of this is so annoying though..."

"What's annoying?" Mimi asked while struggling to close the cargo hold door. "I can't believe how heavy this door is!" she said, completely off-topic.

She backed up behind it and kicked it closed.

"You better not get locked in here, you'll never get out!" she joked.

Sora cracked a fake smile to keep the mood light, even though the last thing she felt like doing right now was smiling.

"If Joe was just a few minutes earlier this whole thing would've been avoided," she explained, "Matt wouldn't have fought with you _or_ Tai, and he definitely wouldn't have hurt me."

"I don't know Sora," Mimi said uncertainly, "Just think, this could be a sign! If all of this didn't happen, you wouldn't have seen this side of Matt that he's been trying to hide! This could all be a warning in disguise."

Sora felt her heart sink into her chest.

'Is Mimi right?" she wondered, "Could all this be happening for a reason?'

Everything was so confusing. Sora took a seat on one of the crates and rested her head on her hands. There was so much to think about. Was Matt really showing his true colors? Was Mimi right about him, or should she listen to what her heart was telling her? Sora just couldn't decide.

"He didn't hit me on purpose," she stated in his defense, "He wouldn't do that."

"But he nearly attacked me!" she said back angrily, her voice approaching a yell, "I had to fight him to stop the plane from taking off!"

"Technically you attacked him, Mimi. You can't blame him for _**resisting you.**_"

Sora knew she seriously hit a nerve, but didn't have a clue why. Mimi's eyes felt like daggers in her neck once she said...

'_**Resisting.**_'

Something about that word set Mimi off, and Sora didn't know what she would do if Mimi lost it on her here. She was already traumatized by everything that happened earlier; she didn't think she could handle any more intensity today. Her hands clenched into weak fists as sweat poured down her dirty hair.

But Mimi did something unexpected; it was as if she turned her back on her anger. She still disagreed, but her rage simmered down significantly.

"He should have the self-control not to fight me Sora, especially since I'm a girl."

"He... He just fought with Tai before he confronted you!"

Sora knew she was making up excuses, but she felt obligated to defend him.

"He probably wouldn't have done anything if Tai didn't get him so upset!"

Sora received a disappointing look from Mimi. She could see right through every forced excuse she threw at her.

Mimi turned her back and began to look around the room, avoiding facial confrontation with Sora.

"Ya know..." she said quietly.

"What do I know?!"

Sora felt her anger returning as she listened to Mimi's smug laughter. She turned her head just enough for Sora to see her vicious eyes and sinister grin.

"_**No one knows exactly why you and Matt are even together in the first place.**_"

Sora's eyes shot wide open and she took a step backwards.

"That is _**not**_ true," Sora replied firmly. Though she herself wasn't sure if she really meant those words.

Mimi's obnoxious laughter roared through the cargo hold now, piercing Sora's ears more harshly than before.

"_**Not true?! HA!**_ That's a laugh! I've never seen two people less compatible in my life, and everyone agrees with me!"

"Oh really?!" Sora snapped back, "Almost all of the team has been nothing but supportive of us. TK has, Tai ha-"

"_**WHAT?!**_" Mimi screamed in interruption, "You're blind if you think that Tai approves of you two. Even I can see that."

Sora didn't know what to say back; she didn't know if any words could even pass her lips again. She turned away from Mimi to face a corner of the cargo hold, like a child in time out. She folded her arms in front of her chest in an attempt to metaphorically block any more attacks Mimi could dish out to her.

"Fine!" Mimi snapped at her, "Sit in your corner and ignore me. When are you gonna grow up?"

Sora's eyes flew wide open. Mimi hit the nail on the head. No mental defense could have blocked the utter honesty in Mimi's words.

"Realize that the only way things are gonna get better is if you make them better yourself. I can't help you if you don't want to help yourself."

And just like that the cargo door slammed shut.

Sora didn't want to think about anything; everything that had happened was too overwhelming, too painful. She needed a mental and physical break. Her clenched fists slowly began to relax into opened hands as her muscles lost their tenseness. She took a deep breath of the stale air in the cargo bay.

Finally, everything was quiet. Everything had returned to its peaceful state.

'I have... To go...'

Her body slowly dropped like a lifeless bag to the floor, lying itself next to the many supplies in the cluttered hold.

'To... Sleep...'

Her breathing and heart rate slowed down as she closed her eyes. She wanted to get out of here, she needed some sort of escape. What Mimi said was too painful to reflect on. Especially considering that she was probably right. Sora just wanted to forget. Forget everything that had happened today. Her heart couldn't take any more. If going to sleep would bring her peace, then that's exactly what she would do.

.

... ... ... ... ...

.

A soft rumbling sound seeped through Sora's ears. It was just loud enough to disturb her slumber. She could feel the trembling beneath her palms, which lay flat upon the floor.

'We must be moving now...'

Even though she had rested, the aches and soreness from earlier hadn't gotten any better. In fact, Sora felt even worse now than she had before falling asleep. She winced in agony on the chilling metal floor as her head throbbed uncontrollably.

'I've got to find something for this headache,' she thought while gripping her forehead, 'My head feels like it's about to explode.'

Holding her head with one hand and supporting her body with the other, Sora crawled over to the closest crate, struggling to keep her balance in the process. Getting up too quickly from the ground didn't help her at all; everything became twisted and fuzzy before her eyes. She had to stop moving for a moment to regain a sense of where everything in the room was.

When everything returned to normal, Sora reached into the crate that she had crawled her way over to. To her surprise, it held just what she needed; painkillers, ice packs, bandages, antidotes, all the medical supplies she desired. She figured it must have been a medical crate.

Without a second to rest, she grabbed the painkillers and an ice pack. Her body still throbbing violently, she ripped open the cap on the bottle of painkillers, spilling most of the contents onto the floor.

'It's bad enough that I have to deal with the physical pain, but I can't handle all this drama as well,' she thought as she tore the ice pack open, imagining it was Mimi's head.

She quickly swiped up several pills from the floor and swallowed them in one gulp. Sora knew that she wasn't the most "Girly" girl out there, but right now she couldn't care less about her manners. She certainly wasn't a tomboy anymore, but she knew that being a... Well... Being a "_Mimi_" wasn't gonna help her along this journey. She could just imagine what Mimi would say if she saw her do that.

"Sora, Oh My Gosh!" she mocked, "No boy is _**EVER **_gonna like you. Boys don't like girls who act like _**pigs!**_

"Shut up, Mimi," Sora said back to herself. Even in her thoughts, Mimi still managed to bother her.

The only worry on her mind right then was whether she had overdosed on the painkillers she ate off the floor; she didn't exactly "Read the label." Her body had told her to get those things down as quickly as possible, to avoid wasting any time. But either way, Sora knew she wouldn't have to worry much longer; she felt another wave of sleep coming on, and it was exactly what she needed. Without hesitation, she put the ice pack on her face and collapsed back to the floor; fast asleep once more.

.

... ... ... ... ...

.

"Sora?"

She was still in a state of being not fully awake but not quite asleep. A boy's sudden voice startled her as she slammed her head backwards against the metal wall.

"Ow!" she yelled, rubbing her head.

'I guess pain was all I really needed to wake up,' she thought. Somehow, she wasn't surprised that she got hurt yet again.

Sora took a glance towards the doorway to see who was there. She immediately wished she hadn't looked.

"Uh, hi Tai," she greeted hesitantly. After the awkward, "_Rubbing-Tai's-Abs_" scenario that happened earlier, he was one of the last people she wanted to see.

"Um, Sora..."

It seemed like he just stood there for ages, debating on whether he should say what he had to say to her or run like hell.

Sora sat awkwardly across the room for a good ten seconds before he finally spoke.

"Can I come in?"

'Really, Tai?' she thought irritably, '_**That **_was your big question?'

"Yeah, of course," she replied, as nicely as possible. It was all his fault that she was woken up and had a bruise on her head, on top of all her other injuries.

Tai walked in and closed the door behind him. He took a seat on a crate across from her.

"So," she asked, "What's up?"

"Sora..." he took a deep breath, "I think you know 'What's up.'"

Tai made a gesture that resembled her getting hit in the face.

She looked down at her hands which were folded gently into her lap. With Tai sitting right in front of her, her fight with Matt had almost escaped her mind. She had tried to push the thought far from her mind, but now it was time to face reality. She would have to either break up with him or give him another chance. Unfortunately, all the time she had spent ignoring the choice she would have to make didn't exactly give her a solution. She had to choose something, but she was skeptical on which decision to make.

"Well, I don't know what to do, Tai!" she uttered, becoming slightly hysterical, "I know I'm supposed to break up with him and everybody wants me to, but I just can't do it! I couldn't hurt him like that over something that was obviously a mistake! I know _**for sure**_ that he didn't mean to hit me, and I don't care what you or Mimi or anyone else says, I have to make my own choices!"

"Woah woah woah, slow down!"

Tai knelt down next to her shaking body and put a hand upon her shoulder. His touch was surprisingly gentle and warm. Just like it was the last time.

"Sora, no one's telling you to break up with Matt if you don't want to! If anything, we're all worried about you two, but not for the reason you think. We all just want you guys to sort things out so we can get back to focusing on the task at hand. Whatever you decide to do we'll support both of you all the way."

She looked up at him confused, "You mean you guys don't all want us to break up?"

"Of course not!" Tai took a seat back against the crate across from her. "Where'd you get that idea from?"

In unison they both said it.

""Mimi""

Tai must've known that Mimi came to talk with her before he did.

"Well don't let her get to you. I mean, we all know that Mimi has a tendency to exaggerate the truth to her own liking."

Sora wiped her eyes and started to laugh. She felt relieved. It had been too long since she had smiled. Leave it to Tai to put a grin back on her face.

It was no wonder he was their leader. Sora could see how respectful Tai really was of their feelings, and how even in overwhelming circumstances he managed to stay calm and find a way to make everything okay again. Sora didn't care if Matt couldn't see what she saw in him. As long as she could see it, it didn't matter.

.

_**'Thank you, Tai...'**_

_**.**_

"Yeah, I know," she replied happily, "Sorry if I blew things out of proportion as usual."

"It's alright," he replied, "Don't worry about it."

He got up and walked over to the door.

"I'm gonna head to the cockpit, I'll see ya later okay?"

"Wait," she said suddenly. Sora almost put her hand over her mouth; she had responded so quickly that she didn't even register that she spoke. It was as if her mouth had a mind of its own.

Tai stopped abruptly beside the doorway and turned to face her. He looked taken back at how forcefully she had told him to wait.

"W-what's up?" he replied apprehensively.

She took a breath before speaking. Everything that she wanted to say suddenly came to her; her mouth knew what to say before she did.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier, when you were carrying me to the plane. I wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I touched you. It- It wasn't right. But it wasn't on purpose either, I swear! I really just thought you were Matt. It was probably just as awkward for you as it was for me."

"Right..." Tai replied unsurely. Sora looked up at his face but he quickly avoided her eye contact.

"I mean," she continued, "It's crazy! The thought of me and you being romantic in any way."

She started laughing almost obnoxiously in his face, even though inside she felt like a total bitch saying that to him. Sora wondered if he could see through her act; If he could tell that she was _**trying**_ to hurt his feelings.

She couldn't help but remember the time when being romantic with Tai was all she _did _think about. It didn't seem like too long ago, in fact, it wasn't too long ago at all. She knew that she was lying to both of them, even now, but she couldn't face the facts.

'There is no way I like Tai,' she thought, 'And even if I still have feelings for him, any chance of us being together is going to end right here. _Right Now._'

"Hahaha-Haha.. Yeah..." he replied, still looking around the room instead of at her, "That'd be so weird. I could never see us together in a million years."

She continued to fake-laugh beside him.

'Is he serious?!' she wondered, watching him laugh along with her, 'Does he really not have feelings or is he lying through his teeth as well?'

"Yeah," she replied out loud, "It'd be too weird, I mean, you're like my best friend, Tai. If anything like that ever happened, it would ruin how close we've always been."

She paused for a moment to look into his dark, cold eyes and he gazed back into her heated stare. Ice and Fire.

Sora felt a grin breaking across her face as a similar one appeared across Tai's.

'What the hell is going on?! Is he mocking me?! Can he see right through me?!'

Sora was horrified. Tai's face was so calm, so complacent. He was completely unreadable. Nothing was making sense.

'No. Stop,' she thought to herself.

Sora calmed her mind, she had to stick with the plan. She had to end any chance she would ever have with Tai, she would _not_ acknowledge any feelings she still had for him.

For a moment they still sat staring and smiling at one another. Tai had no clue that her innocent smile had turned into a sinister grin. She was going to finish this once and for all.

"But Tai..."

She took a quiet breath, reestablishing the serious mood as the fake smile faded from her face.

"I can't deny that I've often thought of you as more than just a friend to me..."

.

_Sora raised her knife-_

.

Tai's grin vanished in the blink of an eye. He seemed to lose all the air in his body, entering a state of paralysis. He choked out his words to her.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean that I've always thought of you not as much as a friend,"

.

_-And plunged the blade into his heart._

.

_**"But as a brother!" **_

'That's it,' she thought, with a crooked grin across her face, 'It's over.'

She had done it. She had said the worst possible thing to say to a boy, there was no turning back now.

"I-"

It was all Tai could force out of his mouth.

Sora jumped as he suddenly got up from where he sat and started to walk to the door. When he grabbed the handle, Sora noticed how fiercely it rattled beneath his grip.

He was... _**Trembling**_...

Tai was frozen in utter confusion, stopped in his tracks as he gripped the steel handle.

She hadn't anticipated this. The pain. The guilt. The _regret._ She had hurt him. Really badly; this wasn't what she wanted. This wasn't part of her plan!

All she wanted to do was to prove to herself that she didn't still have feelings for him, not rip his heart out in the process!

'What have I done?!'

There had to be a way to fix this. She couldn't let him leave; she had to make amends for it now. Sora knew she couldn't let him walk out that door.

"Tai?"

"Me too," he choked out sharply in reply with his back turned to her.

She jumped up as quickly as possible from the ground to try to grab his attention. She reached her arm out for his shoulder as he moved farther and farther away.

"Tai, I-"

But the door was shut.

It was over.

Sora stood alone in the middle of the dim cargo hold, her arm still suspended in mid-air, reaching outwards for his shoulder. There was nothing she could say. Her mind was empty. Her plan had worked; She said everything she wanted to say. Tai would never like her again, and any feelings she may still have for him didn't matter anymore...

But what was the cost of her actions. Sora herself couldn't believe the extent she would go just to get what _she_ wanted.

It was selfish and it was wrong. She betrayed herself, and even worse, she betrayed him.

She swore earlier that she wouldn't get involved in any more of this drama. But now she was in deeper water than ever before, and the tide was rising.

"I don't think I can take this anymore," she cried softly to herself, trembling as she clutched her hand to her chest. Her legs were shaking violently now, wobbling as they tried to support her body weight. Cold shivers shot through her body like lightning, piercing her joints with each step she took.

Sora limped slowly to the nearest box, knowing that she was about to collapse onto the floor. Every inch felt like a mile; the pain from her injuries was becoming more and more intense. The painkillers she took earlier just couldn't suppress her level of suffering.

She was only a yard away from the box now.

A foot.

An inch.

Suddenly, the door handle creaked behind her. Sora spun her head around just to catch glimpse of a tall, blonde boy walk through the doorway. She gazed up into his eyes from her seat on the floor.

'Matt..'

"Sora," he said, looking straight back at her, "We need to talk."

.

.

.

Alright, that's part 1! Please review, follow, favorite, all that good stuff! Also, don't be shy to re-review or PM me, I love any attention that I get! Remember to also check my profile if you want info on where I'm at in the story and when the next chapters will be out. Part 2 I'm aiming for very late October, it should be about another 4000 words for part 2. Not too long. Then, Chapter 4 is gonna be really exciting, I can't wait!


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